A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a form of common land ownership with a charter based on the principles of sustainable and ecologically-sound stewardship and use. The land in a CLT is held in trust by a democratically-governed non-profit corporation. Through an inheritable and renewable long-term lease, the trust removes land from the speculative market and facilitates multiple uses such as affordable housing, village improvement, commercial space, agriculture, recreation, and open space preservation. Individual leaseholders own the buildings and other improvements on the land created by their labor and investment, but do not own the land itself. Resale agreements on the buildings ensure that the land value of a site is not included in future sales, but rather held in perpetuity on behalf of the regional community.
The first community land trust was formed in 1967 in Albany, Georgia by Robert Swann and Slater King, seeking a way to achieve secure access to land for African American farmers. The movement has grown to include over 200 community land trusts throughout the US and is widely understood as the best model for developing permamently affordable homeownership opportunities in regions of escalating land prices. A new National Community Land Trust Association has formed to respond to the growing needs of its member organizations.
Directory of Community Land Trusts
Organized by state with contact information and web sites
Events
Upcoming conferences and training seminars, archives of past events
Articles
Essays and background materials available on-line related to community land trusts and the role of land in the economic system
The Community Land Trust:
A Guide to a New Model for Land Tenure in America
By Robert Swann, Ted Webster, and others--the first documentation of the CLT concept, originally published in 1972, reprinted in 2007.
Community Land Trust Online Handbook to help others start new Land Trust organizations. Includes by-laws, articles of incorporation, lease agreements, and associated documents.
Indian Line Farm, the first Community Supported Agriculture farm in North America and a model for farmland preservation and conservation through a unique partnership between The Nature Conservancy, the Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires, and farmers Elizabeth Keen and Alex Thorp, the Berkshire.
Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires
The E. F. Schumacher Society has provided technical assistance to the Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires which owns three tracts of land, including the site of the Schumacher Library. The Land Trust also holds Forest Row, a residential neighborhood of permanently affordable housing, and Indian Line Farm, the first Community Supported Agriculture farm in North America and a model for farmland preservation and conservation. (To read the CLTSB info pamphlet, please click here for English, aqui para Español.) The Society has developed a Community Land Trust Online Handbook which includes the organizational documents and lease agreements of the Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires.
Resources
Organizations providing resources for community land trusts
International Work: Lake Baikal Project
brought to you by the
E. F. Schumacher Society
140 Jug End Road, Great Barrington, Massachusetts 01230 USA
(413) 528-1737, www.smallisbeautiful.org
