We own houses! Give us money!

From the BBC:

Big cash incentives should be offered to people living in areas of England where developers want to build new homes, a think tank suggests.

Instead of the current system where council planners decide whether to back new projects, the Policy Exchange says local residents should be balloted. It says such changes would lead to more young people being able to afford to buy their own homes instead of renting...

Wot?

I'm not aware that NIMBYs, who by definition nearly all own a house themselves, were forced to "compensate" owners of existing houses when theirs were built, so like all land 'ownership' this is yet more privatised tax collection - a regressive transfer of wealth from the younger generation and the construction industry (and owners of undeveloped land) to existing home owners.

Of course, with Land Value Tax, you get automatic compensation if new developments depress the rental value of existing buildings because your tax bill would go down, but this idea* is Land Value Tax turned on its head.

* Which is only one suggestion in the full report (pdf). Some of the ideas seem quite sensible, some are same old, same old. And the report makes the usual error of looking at the headline figure for Housing Benefit without realising that two-thirds of this is merely a transfer from one branch of government (the Department of Work & Pensions) to other branches of government (local authorities and Housing Associations) and does not net off the rents paid by social tenants (so the net cash cost to the taxpayer is negligible). It's the one-third of Housing Benefit paid to 'private' landlords, many of whom own ex-council housing which represents a real cost to the taxpayer.