Tag: shared equity homeownership

Is the Housing Market the Answer to the Racial Wealth Gap?

In discussions around closing the racial wealth gap, we should be reminded that a very large portion of wealth gained by white Americans should be seen as ill-gotten.

Shared-Equity Homeownership With No Public Subsidy

What if the future of shared equity homeownership was not dependent on government subsidies? Vivacité - Société immobilière solidaire, a Quebec-based non-profit organization, designed a shared equity program based on a social economy model that leverages impact investors to ensure perpetual affordability and scales its impact.

Why Tenants Should Be Given the Opportunity to Purchase Their Buildings

Unlike so many owners who are quickly selling their properties to the highest bidder amidst rising real estate values, an East Oakland landlord was intent on giving the existing tenants a fair shot to purchase the property.

The State of Permanent Affordability

In the face of accelerating gentrification, along with ongoing speculation and eviction, the idea of putting a substantial number of homes outside of the reach of the speculative market has been gaining momentum across the country.

Community Land Cooperatives Should Oversee Neighborhood Economic Development

This nonprofit is organizing a real estate investment cooperative for the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, with the exclusive purpose of incubating, funding, and assisting “community land cooperatives.”

Believe in CLTs? Make Them Sustainable

Though much fanfare is showered on the CLT model, land trusts often struggle to get off the ground because very little support is available for those trying to create one or for existing CLTs looking to expand.

El Caño Vive, La Lucha Sigue! Community-Controlled Land in Puerto Rico

The Caño Martín Peña project has succeeded in building community power and gaining control of land by pioneering the community land trust model.

Land Banks and Community Land Trusts: Not Synonyms or Antonyms. Complements

Land banks and community land trusts (CLTs) are often perceived as one and the same. That doesn't reflect reality.

Interview with Gabriel Metcalf, author of Democratic by Design

Gabriel Metcalf, CEO of SPUR, discusses his new book, "Democratic by Design: How Carsharing, Co-ops, and Community Land Trusts are Reinventing America."

So, About That Anti-Inclusionary “Study”

Last week, I submitted the following letter to the editor of the LA Times in response to a vicious, and...

Leveling the Information Playing Field Between Advocates and Developers

Inclusionary housing has been around for decades. It encompasses a range of policies that call on developers to contribute...

A Land Trust Q&A

Tracy Parent, the organizational director of the San Francisco Community Land Trust, was kind enough to answer some questions I had about SFCLT's work...

How Are Shared Equity Programs Growing With Public Investment?

In an era of dwindling affordable housing resources, communities are looking for ways to use what they have more efficiently. Advocates for shared equity homeownership programs have long argued that preserving long-term affordability helps public funding go further; in fact, new data shows that public funds invested in shared equity homes have been growing at […]

That YouTube Video You’ve Seen has a Land Trust Background

For a regional nonprofit that measures social media impact in the thousands (of connections) and hundreds (of clicks), it was quite a mashup when their video went viral.

Extreme Makeover: CLT Home Edition

Who doesn’t enjoy a room makeover contest with stunning results? The competition is even more gratifying when it serves a dual purpose: delighting a...

Community Land Trusts Gain New Activist Allies

The Right to the City (RTC), an activist housing justice alliance, has broadened its agenda to include advocating for community land trusts (CLTs) and other...

Manufacturing Affordable Homeownership Solutions

It’s time to take factory-built homes seriously as affordable housing.

Shared Equity for the Rich?

One of the common arguments from those who are skeptical of shared-equity homeownership is that it's unfair to ask low-income...

A New Kind of Redlining: Punishing Success

During the worst years of the Great American Mortgage Meltdown, shared equity homes represented an island of stability in a...

Braided Lives: Habitat–Land Trust Partnerships Bring Each Back to Their Roots

Though they started at the same place around the same time, community land trusts and Habitat for Humanity soon went their separate ways.  In...