Community Land Trust

Remove land from the speculative market permanently. Once it's in the trust, no developer can flip it. Ever.

Pressure addressed: displacement, economic

Time: 6-18 months to establish, years to fully develop

People: Core group of 10-20, broader community support

Resources: Legal support, substantial fundraising, land acquisition costs (potentially millions in urban areas)

About this tool

Here's how displacement works: land gets expensive, your community gets priced out, wealth flows to people who've never lived there. A Community Land Trust breaks that cycle permanently. The CLT owns the land.

How to do it

  1. Build a core group

    Identify 10-20 committed people who understand the long-term nature of this work. Include people with legal, financial, and organising experience.

  2. Research existing models

    Study successful CLTs in similar contexts. The Granville CLT in Brixton and Champlain Housing Trust in Vermont offer models.

  3. Assess community needs

    What land/buildings are at risk? What does the community need most, housing, commercial space, community facilities?

  4. Establish legal structure

    Register as a nonprofit with appropriate charitable status. Develop bylaws that ensure community control.

  5. Acquire land

    Options include: donation from sympathetic landowners, purchase with fundraised money, transfer from local authority, Section 106 agreements.

Before you start

  • Legal support
  • Community trust
  • Seed funding or land donation

Implementation guidance

Starting point

  • Legal structure properly established with charitable status
  • Governance ensures genuine community control (not developer capture)
  • Land acquisition pathway identified and funded
  • Long-term stewardship plan in place
  • Succession planning for leadership
  • Connection to broader housing movement

Building on it

  • Core group formed with legal and financial expertise
  • Research completed on successful models
  • Community needs assessment done
  • Initial fundraising begun

Advanced practice

  • Announced CLT without legal structure
  • Developer-led 'community' trust that extracts community legitimacy
  • No pathway to actual land acquisition

CLTs that never acquire land create years of volunteer burnout for nothing. Developer-captured 'community' trusts use your branding to legitimise displacement. The failure becomes evidence that 'community solutions don't work', discouraging future attempts.

Examples

Brixton, London

Granville CLT formed 2011 in response to gentrification

Secured site on Somerleyton Road. Delivering permanently affordable housing and community space.

Source

Burlington, Vermont

Champlain Housing Trust, largest CLT in US, operating since 1984

Over 2,800 units of permanently affordable housing

Source

Further resources