I. Introduction
Recent release of draft Outline Zone Plan in Hoi Ha, Bak Lap and So Lo Pun has triggered strong opposition by the wider community. Coupled with the shortage of housing supply and stronger public awareness of conservation, the public has associated this plan with injustice Small house Policy, which provides opportunity for flagrant small house invasion in the country park enclaves and promote black market of small houses. In regard to this, I would like to point out some critical problems in the Small House Policy that causes conflicting views between different stakeholders. I would also propose a few recommendations regarding to these critical problems.
II. Two Problems associated with Small House Policy
Insufficient statutory planning control over small house development in rural New Territories has result in small house proliferation and illegal land activities (Hopkinson, 2003). Take country park enclaves as examples, according to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (2011), only 23 country park enclaves (721 hectares) out of 77 (1355 hectares) are covered by Outline Zoning Plans. This illustrates that here are still a significant portion of country park enclaves not covered by zoning protection.
In addition, the mechanism of small house application is prone to corruption and abuse. First, village representatives have the sole power of verification of indigenous people, while neither the Town Planning Board nor other government authorities has an archive of the indigenous people (Audit Commission, 2002). It provides an opportunity for illegal transfer of interest between village representatives and small house beneficiaries, and exaggeration of small house demand. Second, current Polic...
... middle of paper ...
...ructions, while census on indigenous people and abolishment of right to transfer small house property can effectively halt the abuse of Small House Policy for profit making.
Works Cited
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department [ACFD]. (2011). Review of
the Criteria for Designing Country Parks and Proposed Measures for
Protecting Country Park Enclaves. Working Paper: WP/CMPB/6/2011.
Country and Marine Parks Board. Retrieved from http://www.afcd.gov.hk
/english/aboutus/abt_adv/files/common/WP_CMPB_6_2011eng.pdf
Audit Commission. (2002). Audit Report No. 39. Chapter 8. Small House grants in
the New Territories. Retrieved from http://www.aud.gov.hk/pdf_e/
e39ch08.pdf.
Hopkinson L. and Lao M.L. (2003). Rethinking the Small House Policy. Civic Exchange.
Lao M.L. (2013). The Small House Policy II: An Update. Civic Exchange.
The importance of social context in Land Law and the reforms which have occurred as a result cannot be ignored or their significance understated. In particular is the impact of the shift in the twentieth century to ‘emergence of a property owning, particularly a real-property-mortgaged-to-a-building-society-owning-democracy’. Such growth could hardly have been anticipated when the LPA 1925 was drafted and subsequently became statute. As a consequence of this growth the doctrine of the resulting trust and to a greater extent, the constructive trust became a robust mechanism by which non legal owners could establish beneficial interests in the home. Swadling comments on the ‘complete change in attitude’ between the emphasis on security of ownership of the home in Boland and the free marketability of land which we see in Flegg. He states ‘one wonders what has happened to the demands of social justice which justified their Lordships decision in 1980 (in Boland) over such a brief passage of time’. Did the House of Lords fail to resolve the very practical issue with which they were presented that had evolved over the passage of social change since the drafting of the 1925 legislation?
One fundamental principle of the Tiny House Movement is that less equals more. Furthermore, the less space one acquires, his or her expenditures will likewise be lessened. By downsizing, owners "allot[s] one-third to one half of their income for the next 15 years for mortgage payments" (Maglalang 31). Due to the affordability, this comfortable style of living has become available to most citizens in the United States. Life in a tiny house provides a viable shelter that can accommodate all, even the underprivileged (Priesnitz 12).
With increasing housing prices, it is not bearable to indigenous residents. The author reiterates that many residents of gentrifying neighborhoods fear the possibility of being displaced and are unsettled by the feeling of being pushed out. The issue of displacement in gentrifying areas is one of the biggest issues implied in this chapter. This relates a lot to my research because of the fact one of the main concerns mentioned in my research is figuring out what occurs to residents who are displaced from their homes because they are not able to afford their rent? There must be a certain mechanism that tap the wealth created by gentrification for the benefit of indigenous and poorer residents who may wish to one day live in a neighborhood.
...the land enclosures, which increases the value and productivity of the land, everyone benefitted. What seemed like a bad thing without values, turned out to overall be a good thing with values present (Polanyi 1957, 33). This embodies Polanyi’s idea that, unlike what Hayek thinks, regulation is a good thing for economic growth if it safeguards the welfare of the community (Polanyi 1957, 33).
Despite protecting millions of acres of wilderness, this act provided for the numerous groups of people affected by the establishment of this law. Stipulations regarding the use of protected lands by private landowners were made. People living inside the park lands were guaranteed the right to subsistence hunting and fishing, as well as the guaranteed access to their lands. This right of access is the main concern for this argument, as it is a major management issue for park officials and land owners alike.
...t led to their rights being acknowledged in the Canadian law. Their rights including land claims could no longer be repelled or ignored by the federal government. The Policy of Outstanding Business was a huge breakthrough for Aboriginals as they were able to have their needs taken care of, receive full benefits in claims and became recognized in the Court of law.
The actions of the State and Federal Government(s) have being questionable over the centuries since the ‘colonization’ of Australia, but as Australia becomes more of a multicultural and multi-racial society Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people acceptance is rising. The disadvantages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face is decreasing slowly by the government as introduce legislation and form commissions. There will always be problems for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in relation to housing, but the Australia is heading in the right direction to correct this problem and provide a much better future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the whole of Australia.
While much of recent discussions of housing affordability in England have been dominated by the rapidly increasing house prices in London, there is an arguably more acute housing affordability crisis in rural England. ‘Rural England’, characterized by Gallent as areas with fewer than 1000 inhabitants per 20 hectares (Gallent et al. 2003), has long had an undersupply of housing, particularly affordable housing, at the same time as a rising demand. This crisis is one in need of urgent repair as it continues to harm the rural communities in which it exists. Rural England faces a myriad of issues, including lack of skilled labour and lack of convenience in accessing necessities such as healthcare and food and retail stores. The rural housing affordability crisis in rural England is interlinked with the other issues it faces. The crisis is a complex and far-reaching issue with many past and present drivers and an irrefutable link to the planning system. This essay will first outline the scope and key drivers of this crisis and will then analyse and gauge the effectiveness of planning in addressing the issue.
Homes are normally based on a solitary level with an edge rooftop. Houses in the more swarmed urban communities frequently have two or more stories and mirror an European impact. A great many people lived in single-family homes until the relocation to urban focuses in the late 1940’s and mid 1950’s. The requirement for satisfactory lodging induced the legislature to put resources into high-masses of open lodging activities amid the mid 1950’s. In the poorer territories, huge families live in little houses developed from ash squares and secured with an adobe made of mud, bovine compost, and
America is seen as the land of opportunity in that there are endless possibilities for an individual. In this land of opportunity, Americans strive to obtain the ideal known as the American dream. The American Dream is seen as the accomplishment of an ambition achieved while challenged by adversity.1 Americans often associate this success with the ownership of a home. The home is not simply a place of basic protection; there is a much deeper connection to the individual. Ownership of a home grants freedom and security that establishes a sense permanency for the individual. In contrast, renting a living space possesses a semblance of instability and dependence.2 The desire to improve ones’ position in life inspires one to obtain the American dream.
Another type of problem with land use conflict centers on the local groups opposed to the project. These people, or NIMBYs, are generally underfunded, highly stressed, inexperienced in negotiation, and lacking political power. They want to participate meaningfully in the decision-making process about their LULU, but many find it difficult to obtain anything but an adversarial position in the process. Power, status, and wealth are the key attributes to gaining attention and consideration from the broader community. Unfortunately, most public NIMBYs are minorities, live in rural areas, live in the South, or have middle- to lower-class incomes (Morris, 1994). In their defense, though, NIMBYs can make harmful land uses difficult to site by creating gridlock on current standard operating procedures.
This is necessary as the vast majority of individuals migrating from rural to urban centers has been steadily increasing with the level of economic growth seen within the past twenty years as mentioned earlier. Unfortunately, this situation has further shown the structural issues and inequalities of cities, as most migrants end up having a poor quality of life living in informal settlements as highlight substantially by Boo. As a means of tackling this, however, the Indian government has turned its focus on investing rural regions, developing the agricultural sector. Specifically, Boo mentions that “the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, had come down from Delhi to express his concern for the farmers’ hardships, and the central government’s determination to relieve it” (p. 138). While this is definitely important funds are not being divided justly. For starters, between rural and urban areas almost all investments are being targeting towards rural regions, which is only addressing issues of inequality in one section of the country. Furthermore, across rural areas inequalities of investment are quite often overlooked. Although, “one of the governments hopes was to stop villagers from abandoning their farms and further inundating cities like Mumbai, but Asha’s relatives knew nothing of these celebrated relief programs” (p. 138). Therefore, even though
There is a collective existence of different forms legal systems, because of the country’s diversity in culture, language and religion. This diversity is able to flourish in India only because of representation of different communities. Diversity and pluralism are acknowledged in India which safeguards the interests of different social groups and communities. This led to law being seen as necessarily pluralistic. However, after colonisation there was an effort made by the British to make law uniform, an essential condition in what was seen as ‘modern law’. Nonetheless, after independence an effort was made to have a pluralistic legal system as this would lead to better representation of different communities. This is how the Panchayati Raj system, a form of local self-government came about. Panchayats were reintroduced in 1992 after the British rule, and there a panchayat in every town of village. The people of the village elect the members of the ‘panch’, whose responsibility is the local administration of the village. In many places, gram panchayats are also known as gram sabhas. In this manner, different forms of legal pluralism shape everyday ordering and disputing in rural and urban India. They relate to formal law as well as customary legal orders equally. The two governance systems interact, which can be termed as formal law and traditional law. Customary law is also termed as unnamed law as it does not refer to a specific basis of
An option for individuals look are looking to buy property have the option to purchase a house. The advantages are: “pride in ownership, privacy, own land, tax benefits, fixed rate, security, and can renovate to their desire. The disadvantages are: less flexibility, mortgage has interest, more stress about money, requires down payments, closing costs, and moving costs, need to have a fixed income/stable income, and bank may take over house if payments are not made” (Zillow, May 12th 2012 ). Pride of ownership is advantage because it gives those individuals accomplishment feeling and shows their hard work paid off and do not have to deal with landlords anymore” (Free Advise Staff, unknown date). Privacy is another advantage because it gives the homeowners the freedom to do whatever they wish and not worrying that they will break the rules. Owning land is an advantage because “every time you pay off your mortgage individuals are gaining equity and increasing your assets” (Chapman’s lecture, unknown date). Another advantage is individuals will get a “tax benefit which will help pay off the interest of the mortgage and increases income” (Kirlew, Unknown date). Security is an advantage because in the “long run if some individuals want to have kids those individuals do not have to worry about moving each year, but instead helps their children grow up in a ...
In conclusion, as you can see size does not have a full effect in the world stage. Small states can counteract for their “size” problems by taking advantage and using what they do have. These small states can prevent volatility with strong policies. For example, revenue volatility can be lessened by reducing dependence on trade taxes. Some small states have started to look at other sources of revenue, and many have successfully adopted value-added taxes. In addition to reducing volatility, small states have a great exposure to external shocks therefore, small states should gather adequate reserves or budget extra spending for potential disasters as well as explore insurance coverage. Small states need effective policies that can help them