The homes only locals can buy
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2023
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We meet the Londoners moving into their first flats thanks to a ownership scheme which started in the US in the 1960s.
Community land trust properties can only be bought by local people, and the price is set by average local income levels, not the open market. Dougal Shaw goes to a block of flats in Lewisham where buyers are just settling in.
He speaks to a lawyer and community activist in the US – the idea started as part of the civil rights movement. And a property expert explains some of the potential long-term issues.
Presenter/producer: Dougal Shaw
(Image: Christian Codjoe is moving into a two-bed flat in Citizens House with his brother. Credit: BBC)
(Image: Artists impression of the flats. Credit: French & Tie)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | 15 years ago, 23-year-old Norwegian student Martina Vic Magnuson was killed in an apartment near Mayfair. |
| 0:08.2 | 23-year-old Martinevic Magnuson was found partially buried in the basement. |
| 0:12.3 | Before being questioned, the only suspect in the case had fled the UK to Yemen. |
| 0:17.2 | I made a promise to Martina's family to find out what happened. |
| 0:23.0 | Murder in Mayfair, part of the documentary, find it wherever you get your BBC podcast. Hello and welcome to Business Daily. |
| 0:33.5 | I'm Dougal Shaw. Today, what is the future of home ownership? I'm in London where for many people, |
| 0:40.9 | buying a property seems completely unachievable. The average salary here is just over 35,000 pounds, |
| 0:47.6 | around 44,000 US dollars, while sold house prices are 10 times that, around £350,000 or $440,000. |
| 0:57.1 | Obviously, I've saved a lot of money since graduating from university for my deposit for a house, |
| 1:01.9 | but in terms of keeping up with the mortgage payments and the interest rates at the moment, it's crazy. |
| 1:05.5 | I have the benefit that I'm not paying rent to someone else as my landlord. |
| 1:09.0 | And even my former landlord gave me a hug. |
| 1:11.0 | And so that was a great thing when I stopped being their tenant. I'll be exploring a global |
| 1:15.1 | scheme which is aiming to help solve this, community land trusts. It means land can be bought |
| 1:20.5 | and kept in community ownership, passed down through the generations. Houses are sold or rented out |
| 1:27.1 | at a rate that is linked permanently to local |
| 1:29.9 | incomes. So we have an independent panel that assesses the applications and they'll be looking at |
| 1:35.4 | things like local connection to the area, whether it's you live here, your kids go to school here, |
| 1:40.4 | you work here. It'll also relate to housing need and being able to demonstrate that. |
| 1:44.8 | I'll be finding out more about the business model for these schemes which originated in the US |
| 1:49.2 | and find out why it might not work for everyone long term. That's all coming up on Business Daily |
| 1:55.4 | from the BBC World Service. I've come to visit a newly built block of 11 flats next to a school in the borough of Lewisham, South London. |
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