This year is the fiftieth anniversery of the Town & Country Act, which the British Parliament passed in 1947. The law set aside most rural land in Britain as “greenbelts” or otherwise off limits to development and built new homes in the form of high rises throughout the war-damaged country. The Town & Country Act also inspired similar laws in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several U.S. states.
Thanks to the law, Britain today has some of the least affordable housing in the world. For example, London realtors recently converted a 320-square-foot public toilet into a tiny house and sold it for $195,000, and converted a 6’x9′ storage closet into an apartment and rent it for $1,400 a month.
Townhouses in London typically sell for $600,000 or more.
Flickr photo by Sacred Destinations.
