Submitted by Pam Lee on Fri, 08/06/2018 - 13:55
Dr Sónia Alves has written a blog for the Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) in Lisbon. Earlier blogs for ICS looked at lessons from the past for future housing policy in Portugal, and talked about the importance of international comparative analysis in providing a clearer understanding of policies impact on economic and social outcomes. In her blog, Dr Alves emphasises the potential value of land-use planning in the provision of affordable housing for low and middle income families.
A review of official statistics presents evidence of the existing problems in the Portuguese housing market, and exacerbated by the financial circumstances faced by local authorities, and Dr Sónia Alves suggests that these problems suggest the need for a more active approach to land value capture, i.e., the capture of the uplift in value arising from the development process. She goes on to briefly look at the English context, where even though a neo-liberal ideological agenda prevails, there is a broad consensus that more efficient methods of capturing land value increases (created by planning permission and public investment) are needed for the sake of the economic and financial sustainability of local authorities, and social and territorial justice.
To read the blog, visit the ICS website.
Read CCHPR’s latest report on valuing planning obligations here.