Hazel Sheffield is a journalist and founder of farnearer.org, a reporting project documenting stories of local economic change. The project has explored more than 50 communities across the UK dealing with the fallout of austerity and Brexit.
Are Community Land Trusts a Way Out of the System?
This autumn, builders will start work on Oakfield Road in Anfield. Many houses in this part of Liverpool have remained empty since the government’s failed ‘housing market renewal’ policy shipped people out, then stalled in 2008. Seven years ago, a group of residents formed a community land trust to bring nine terraces on Oakfield Road into community ownership. Now, instead of being demolished, they have been reimagined as cosy, energy-efficient homes, with space for local businesses, winter gardens, a market and a cafe.
November 14, 2019