Community land trust

How a CLT works

A typical community land trust:

1. Acquires land — through purchase, donation, or transfer
2. Holds the land permanently in nonprofit ownership; the land is removed from the speculative real estate market
3. Sells (or rents) the buildings on the land to residents or commercial users at below-market prices
4. Provides long-term ground leases (typically 99 years, renewable) to residents/users
5. Resale formula — when a CLT homeowner sells, the resale price is restricted by formula to keep the home affordable for the next buyer; the CLT typically has right of first refusal
6. Community governance — CLTs are governed by a board with three constituencies: CLT residents (one third), broader community members (one third), public-interest representatives (one third)

The result: land is held in community trust permanently; housing built on it stays affordable across generations of owners; the community has standing in decisions about how the land is used.

Origin

The CLT concept was developed by New Communities Inc. in southwest Georgia, founded 1969 by Charles and Shirley Sherrod and other Civil Rights movement veterans. New Communities purchased ~5,700 acres of land in 1970 — the largest land-holding institution founded by Black Americans since Reconstruction.

The trust was inspired by:

• Indian gramdan movement (village land donation)
• Jewish National Fund land trust models
• The Sherrods’ own Civil Rights organizing experience with the SNCC

The Sherrods’ insight: lasting Black economic and political power required permanent community control of land, separated from market speculation that would otherwise displace community over time.

New Communities operated for over 15 years, eventually losing the original land to a USDA discrimination case (later won in court; substantial settlement awarded in the 1999 Pigford v. Glickman case). The model survived; CLTs spread nationally through the 1970s and beyond.

Modern CLT scope

Today there are 250+ CLTs in the United States, with the largest concentrations in:

• Burlington, VT — Champlain Housing Trust, the largest U.S. CLT (~3,000+ units), founded 1984
• Boston, MA — Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative; community-led CLT in a previously-abandoned neighborhood
• Cincinnati, OH — Cincinnati Community Land Trust, citywide CLT
• Atlanta, GA — Atlanta Land Trust, multi-neighborhood
• Many smaller CLTs in cities, towns, and rural areas across the country

International CLTs have spread to England, Belgium, Australia, Kenya, Tanzania, Honduras, and elsewhere.

What CLTs preserve

• Permanent affordability — homes don’t appreciate to market rates, so successive buyers can afford them
• Anti-displacement — communities aren’t displaced by gentrification because land is removed from market
• Generational wealth in housing — CLT homeowners build limited equity (modest appreciation typically) but pay much less than market; the trade-off keeps community intact
• Community governance over land use — what gets built, who lives there, how the land is used
• Climate and ecological work — many CLTs prioritize [[stewardship|ecological stewardship]] of held land

Why this matters

CLTs are working institutional infrastructure for the principle that land should be a commons, not a commodity. They demonstrate that the principle is not just theoretical — it works at scale, in real cities and rural areas, for thousands of households. For 0mn1.one’s vision of place-rooted community and bioregional resilience, CLTs are foundational structural form.

See also

Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.

• Shares approach with: [[commons]] · [[bioregion]]

Sources

• Reclaiming Communities Through CLT, John Emmeus Davis ed.
• Schumacher Center for a New Economics — CLT history and resources
• Center for CLT Innovation (cltinnovation.org)
• The Community Land Trust Reader, John Emmeus Davis ed. (Lincoln Institute, 2010)

Rooted in life.