Co-operative Land Bank

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Description

"Year by year, exclusive forms of ownership concentrate wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the many. Year by year, the public debt load rises and private citizens suffer the consequences, including massive cuts in state subsidies for affordable housing. It is inefficient, it is unjust, and it has to change.

Shann Turnbull has designed a way to end this process. His Co-operative Land Bank (CLB) creates a way to reward private investment for commercial or industrial purposes in an area in the medium term, while diverting ownership, wealth, and responsibility into the hands of local residents over the long term.

He proposes that the ownership of the urban land base be separated from the ownership of buildings on the land. The land belongs to the CLB. Its shares are distributed to residents according to the area occupied by their dwelling (e.g., one share per square meter). Ownership in a dwelling or commercial or industrial building takes the form of a transferable lease from the CLB. Whereas the leases on dwellings are perpetual, those for commercial or industrial buildings are time-limited; such investors retain ownership only until they recover their investments. Voting privileges in CLB deliberations are reserved to those who hold community shares.

Consequently, residents acquire equity in the entire site. Profits and rents are channeled to the CLB, which also captures the rise in land values due to public investment in infrastructure. It becomes self-financing. Incentive for entrepreneurship is preserved, while the machinery that enriches the few and marginalizes the many is dislocated." (http://communityrenewal.ca/co-op-landbanks)