Land:

Accessing land, its location, and securing its tenure are amongst the most critical and challenging aspects of collective housing. The right parcel of land can make or break a project. The following headings outline some challenges that may stem from land procurement and selection:

• Whenua

  In Aotearoa an essential step to developing land is understanding the relationships of tangata whenua and mana whenua. Engaging with local iwi, hapu, and runanga is part of understanding the history and importance of land, and respecting Te Tiriti o Waitangi when establishing new collective housing. Ensuring you are talking to the right parties, taking the time it takes, and are open to partnership or non-engagement are important parts of this process.

• Finding Land

  Selecting a location for a community to settle down is a complex balancing act of benefits and tradeoffs. Not all members will desire the same things from their location, local councils will have land use regulations that are difficult to work around, and the best land may be too expensive. Developing a system to ‘rank’ possible locations, or some other way of quantitatively comparing parcels can help avoid conflict between internal desires.

• Managing Land Cost

  The cost of securing land can easily spiral upwards as developers with deep pockets offer more than a community ever can. Avoiding competition for land, and securing a fixed price can both help increase certainty that a parcel of land will remain affordable. Partnering with community minded land owners (including developers) or with a community member that can contribute existing land are good ways to facilitate a collective housing community formation.

• Existing Landowners

  Forming a strong relationship with the people who own the land your community is purchasing, and with their neighbours, is important. The more community work you put in, the fewer complaints and challenges will come up as development proceeds. Getting to know who will be impacted by your development early helps prevent unwelcome surprises which could lead to conflict.

• Land Value Appreciation

  As long as real estate is viewed as an investment, and capital gains go untaxed, the land which a project is situated on will appreciate in value. Where these gains go when sales occur is a question for the community to solve. Some communities take any net gain and re-invest it in community facilities, improving the quality of the collective housing development. Others allow the members to make capital gains as usual, which risks the financialisation of housing.