A single change of principle changes every outcome. I stand on the land in which I have lived for years, and I stand for people above property. The Man stands opposite with his belief in property above people. He will never state this belief publicly.
Instead the Man insists that, just the same as me, he stands for people above property. He will buy the land so that “jobs” can be created. He will insist that his system is best… although some people are required to make sacrifices for this system to work – that’s where we come in.
And so the well-dressed stranger gains the confidence of the ignorant and develops the area for the greater good. How thoughtful, selfless, entrepreneurial. We get “compensated” – evicted with a small bribe.
Current legal processes require that Developers offer “consultation” to the residents. This requirement is in only the most nominal and meaningless form – a box-ticking exercise that has no visible effect on the outcome. The outcome is guaranteed by the process to ensure that the Man wins on his terms. The Rules of the Game are not up for debate. Commonly referred to as a stitch up.
Beyond beneficent theory, the reality is that we do not benefit. The experience is that we are ripped from our communities and shipped off to some old housing stock on the other side of town, and we attempt to rebuild our lives from scratch. Without land and the means to secure genuine ongoing independence, we merely return to square one and do our best to rebuild our lives. And once we have been moved along, our experience undoes our ignorance and we realise – too late – that we have been conned.
The Man benefits. The Local Authority sell him the land for a pound an acre. The huge profits of the redevelopment are paid out as dividends to people with commercial property portfolios.
There is no grant for us from taxpayer’s money even though we are the taxpayers. No free land even though we were the ones who were living on it.
But we will not be victims. Instead, we will be beneficiaries.
Let’s go back to that piece of land. And now, let’s do it differently. The Community set up a Corporation. Every resident owns one share in the company which, should they leave the area, they pass to the new resident. The Corporation issue bonds, and the Government buys them. With the cash that we have borrowed through a Bond issue (effectively a loan), we develop the land and build houses, commercial units etc. The rent that we receive, we pay back into the Corporation which pays back the loan to the Government. Eventually we have paid back the loan, and the land and all the future rental income from it belongs to us to maintain us and our children in the future with our own stake.
We have achieved independence. Quick and simple – the direct route with no need for anyone else offering kindly to grab the land and “create jobs”. The only complicated part in our new strategy is clearing aside the barriers that are placed in our way. But we have people for that too. The next time the Government come along and offer to redevelop our neighbourhood with promises of community consultation and a bright new tomorrow, our lawyers will tell them that we are ready to do it.