How to compete with aggressive land developers, particularly in the largely unshackled competition of free-enterprise nations such as the United States?
Land developers have pockets lined with cash to outbid more modest competitors. They bank land and save prime acquisitions for a long-distant rainy day. They wage merciless propaganda wars against groups of small investors who might attempt to band together — those “socialists” and “commies” who hate “freedom”.
Ownership of land for industrial or housing development in such nations is by and large reserved for the privileged few.
Still, where there is a will, there is a way. Cooperative effort and community can be a powerful force, and one that is entirely colour-blind. Harpers Magazine describes the struggles and successes of one kind of land development — a community land trust (CLT),1 in an article about a successful Black-owned and managed CLT that supports both industry and housing.
Read more in Harper’s Magazine*: We Shall Not Be Moved
* Harper’s Magazine, like many famous and noteworthy publications, is paywalled. However, for those who do not encounter and enjoy Harper’s Magazine with any frequency, it offers one free article read per month. For those interested in ‘test-driving’ the publication, this particular article is inspiring.
Footnotes
- For more on CLT’s see: Land Trusts – What Are They? What Do They Mean For Affordable Housing?
