A/HRC/25/54 of urbanization and trends in migration, population growth and ageing. In South Africa, for example, the City of Cape Town was ordered by the High Court to conduct an audit of unused land plots to accommodate people facing eviction.45 44. Allocation of public land for the provision of housing. States should utilize available public land, including land obtained by municipalities through tax foreclosures and other means, to meet current and anticipated housing needs of the urban poor, using suitable secure tenure arrangements. States may choose to provide adequate housing or ensure that the conditions exist to enable recipients to construct or rehabilitate housing themselves. 45. Measures to combat speculation and underutilization of private land and housing. States should adopt a range of measures to curb property speculation and the underutilization of private land and housing. Tax liabilities on underutilized property can be progressively increased to discourage speculation and neglect.46 Public authorities can be empowered to acquire rights in unused parcels for use for low-income housing. In Colombia, the Urban Reform Law establishes the Priority Development Declaration, under which owners of vacant land unwilling to put it back into use are compelled to sell. If the land is not sold at auction, the State can expropriate the land at 70 per cent of its taxbase value for social housing purposes.47 The Netherlands has used an alternative scheme allowing local authorities to temporarily take over management of an empty property for social rental housing. Renovation of the property, paid for by the local authority, can be reimbursed through rent, with both tenant and owner benefiting from the rehabilitation.48 46. Inclusive urban planning. Inclusive urban planning is instrumental in promoting integrated communities and ensuring that well-located housing is available to the poor. Inclusionary zoning requires that a proportion of neighbourhood property be allocated to low-income dwellings; and, if combined with a mandate to maintain affordability over time, it can provide adequate housing for the urban poor. Inclusive parcelling and development regulations require that a proportion of new housing developments is reserved for low-income housing. For example, in France, 25 per cent of all new housing developments in an urban area with a population of more than 50,000 must be allocated to social housing.49 Similar policies exist in Canada, Colombia, Chile, Ireland, Maldives, the United States, England and Scotland, among others.50 A ceiling on plot sizes in residential zones can also lower housing costs by promoting higher-density accommodation. 47. Inclusive urban renewal can be facilitated by participatory land readjustment processes. Communities jointly plan and redevelop their pooled land plots to improve infrastructure and services, and in some cases densify the area.51 Fragmented land plots are assembled and then re-parcelled to achieve a better use of urban space. 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Lyton Props and Robert Ross v. Occupiers of isiQalo and City of Cape Town, judgement of 3 June 2013. Tax liability should not apply to vacant property because its owner has been forcibly displaced and is unable to return. Law No. 9 of 1989, modified by Law No. 388 of 1997 (questionnaire response from Colombia). María Mercedes Maldonado, “Fortalezas y fisuras del uso de la expropiación para fines urbanos en Colombia. Revisión a partir de la experiencia de Bogotá” in Expropiación y conflicto social en cinco metrópolis latinoamericanas, Antonio Azuela (coord.) (Mexico, UNAM, 2013), pp. 231–268. See United Kingdom, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Empty Homes: Temporary Management, Lasting Solutions: A consultation paper (London, 2003), paras. 52 and 57 and annex 5. Law No. 2013-61 (questionnaire response from France). Questionnaire responses from Chile, Colombia, France, Maldives, Thailand and the United Kingdom. See Participatory and Inclusive Land Readjustment Approach (PiLaR), GLTN and UN-Habitat at: www.gltn.net/index.php/projects/participatory-and-inclusive-land-readjustment-pilar. 15