Reflections on 'Land'
If you are anything like me, you will be happy to hear that we have essentially moved past municipal budget season. Phew, that was a lot! While municipal budgets can feel tedious to wade through, I truly believe they are important documents for us to understand as they reflect our council’s priorities for our community.
One of the identified priorities for our community is housing. That has me reflecting on some of the pieces I have previously written on housing issues. I came across this piece and I wanted to provide an updated reflection on it.
Over the last several years I have become interested in housing issues, especially those related to affordability. I also love learning about various housing models and approaches, including land trusts and housing co-operatives (Check out Union Co-operative for one model that I am excited about). I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but as someone who is quite passionate about housing, I have come to the conclusion that we have a land problem.
This land problem is not simply an issue of what can or should be built where. It's much deeper than that. I believe it's rooted in our beliefs about our relationship with the land.
In many housing discussions, there is some debate about who can do what with a certain parcel of land. One property owner wants to build something that a nearby property owner objects to. As we see our city grow and develop, there are no shortage of examples of disagreements about what can be built where.
Concerns from nearby neighbours about what's being built in their proverbial ‘backyard’ are often heightened when what's proposed involves providing shelter or services that support those who are pushed to the margins by our existing systems - those without shelter, those who use drugs, those who are dealing with mental health challenges, and so on.
We see that any time the residents of A Better Tent City are in search of a new location for their homes. We see it with the encampment at 100 Victoria St N in Kitchener. It happens when Consumption and Treatment Services are proposed. And we see it with the proposed outdoor shelter that the Region is working on opening this spring.
I am a strong supporter of all of the above approaches because I don't believe that we have a right to choose who gets to live near us and who doesn't. Yet, I still can't help but wonder if we might be looking at this issue with the wrong lens. And it all comes back to land and our relationship with it.
In most every discussion I hear regarding objections to a proposed development or change, opponents reference the fact that they are a home owner, a property owner, and that they pay taxes so they should be listened to. Let's put aside for a moment the many, many problems I have with those arguments, and just take a look at the major assumption in such statements - that we 'own' the land and therefore get to decide how it should be 'used'. I am starting to see how that may be at the root of many of our housing challenges.
I think we have a lot to learn from Indigenous Peoples in this (and many other) area(s). As I read more about Land Back and the relationship Indigenous Peoples have with the land, I see value in that. Perhaps our relationship with land should be less about ownership and more about stewardship - how can we take care of the land so it can provide for generations to come?
If we view our housing discussions through the lens of stewards of the land, how will that change these local housing discussions? I hope it will lead to more compassionate, caring, and sustainable decisions around 'land use'. An 'ownership' lens may require that council and staff demand a strict adherence to any and all planning applications and processes before deciding if unsheltered residents can live in specific spaces. Whereas a stewardship lens may instead see the urgency in finding vulnerable residents a place to live and not demand that the first and only priority is that 'planning rules must be adhered to at all costs'.
While I don’t entirely know what a stewardship view of land entails, I believe it prioritizes the long-term health and wellbeing of the people of the land, and of the land itself. I think it means we focus less on home ownership and more on collective approaches like land trusts and co-ops. And, it most certainly requires us to return land back to Indigenous communities.
Have you seen models and approaches that encompass some of these values? Feel free to share examples in the comments!
What I am reading on Substack
This week I want to highlight The Toronto History Weekly. This weekly newsletter is “about everything that’s happening in the world of Toronto history — all the latest heritage news and event listings — plus a place to share the stories behind some of the city’s most fascinating archival images, artifacts, and historical figures.” If you love learning the ‘stories behind the story’, I think you’ll enjoy reading The Toronto History Weekly.
Great explanation of the importance of emphasizing stewardship of land over ownership. I think about the distinction a lot when it comes to other financial resources as well, e.g. a shift in mindset away from "my money" to "the money over which I have stewardship." I can think of a few prominent business leaders who would make different decisions if they had a stewardship mindset!
Great post. As I understand it stewardship of land has also been a more common idea in Europe. I think part of the origin of this weird way of thinking here may have been the odd way that land was considered a material asset by early colonizers. Nothing we can't get over though. And yes taking the cue from indigenous thinking about what land is could be key.