Community Land Trusts
A community land trust is a nonprofit, community-based organization that is designed to ensure community stewardship of land. It’s a form of permanently affordable housing in which a community-controlled organization retains ownership of the land and sells or rents the housing on that land to lower-income households.
The Latest
How State Coalitions Are Advancing Community Ownership of Housing
In recent years, housing coalitions promoting community land trusts and real estate cooperatives have formed in multiple cities and states—and they are achieving results. Nonetheless, a lot of work is needed to achieve the policy changes these groups desire.
Explore Articles in this Topic
Search & Filter Within this Topic
filter by Content Type
filter by Date Range
search by Keyword
More Land, More Ways, for More People: What’s New in Community Ownership
Creative problem solving is pushing community ownership models forward.
Fixing the Housing Crisis Beyond Supply, a Webinar
What are the root causes of the housing crisis and how can we address them?
The Permanent Affordability That Wasn’t: Lessons from the Pythian Building
A high-stakes, high-profile community land trust project once hailed as a triumph in New Orleans ended in disaster for its residents, but it’s important to draw the right lessons about why.
Why Combining Community Land Trusts and Limited-Equity Cooperatives Benefits Residents
A church with a shrinking congregation sold its land to SquareOne Villages to develop the Peace Village Co-op, a 70-unit housing development that’s both a community land trust and limited-equity co-op. How does combining these shared-equity homeownership models work?
Let’s Harness the Growth of the Shared-Equity Field
Between 2011 and 2022, the number of nonprofits with shared-equity programs and CLTs increased by 30 percent. Here’s a look at the diversity of their programs and portfolios, and who’s benefiting from their rise.
Q: What Are the Three Major Types of Community- or Resident-Controlled Housing and How Do They Work?
There’s a lot of momentum toward resident-controlled housing. Do you know the three major forms it takes?
Western States Look to These Lands for New Affordable Housing
In several western states, state-owned trust lands were created to support schools and other community benefits.
New Yorkers Need Land. The NYPD Is Sitting On Nearly 150 Lots.
A new map reveals how much land in New York City is being wasted by city police—often sitting vacant, rather than serving the public good.
The Dirty Little Secret—Rising Property Values Are Incompatible with Affordability
Rising property values come with positive community development, but this shift can make neighborhoods inaccessible to low-income renters and fixed-income homeowners.
When a Land Bank Starts a Land Trust
An Ohio land bank adds to its developing power through a nonprofit land trust.
Boston Organizers Protect Individual Tenants, While Trying to Change the System
City Life/Vida Urbana is known for successful tenant union organizing and anti-eviction actions, but every individual action springs from a larger vision of system and policy change.
New Philly Land Trust Was Promised Dozens of Homes; How’s It Going?
Two years ago, Philadelphia officials agreed to give 59 vacant buildings to homeless advocates. The historic deal has faced several setbacks, but is still moving forward.