Community Land Trusts: NEcase studies

Lack of affordable housing is recognised as a problem in most urban and rural areas in the United Kingdom today. It is one of the issues that gives rise to social exclusion of disadvantaged individuals and can contribute to weakening of community cohesion overall within a local community, mainly through people leaving to seek housing elsewhere. Arthurson, K and Jacobs, K (2003) note the concept of social exclusion is a difficult one, as cause and effect of social exclusion are almost impossible to evaluate clearly. The concept does, however, highlight the relativity of the phenomenon as exclusion implies there is something to be excluded from – in this case access to local housing that does not consume an unreasonable proportion of income. There are clearly degrees of social exclusion as Somerville, P (1998) states, expanding to make the point that some may be excluded from rented housing as well as ownership and some may be excluded only from ownership. Fundamentally Somerville puts the case that the effect of exclusion is to deny certain social groups or individuals control over their daily lives, or impairs enjoyment of their wider citizenship rights.