By Jeremy Kritt

A community land trust is a community-led, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that acquires ownership of land and stewards that land on behalf of the community by retaining permanent ownership of it. Community land trusts can be utilized for a variety of purposes but are most commonly implemented as platforms for affordable housing.

Unlike government programs that subsidize the building and private ownership of affordable housing or that provide needy individuals with financial assistance to rent or purchase suitable housing, community land trusts don’t operate solely to address the housing and financial needs of a specific group of tenants, homeowners, or individuals. Instead, by creating and preserving affordable housing options, protecting and leveraging affordability subsidies, preventing the displacement of residents, and helping both current and future residents secure affordable housing and remain in it, community land trusts stabilize communities as a whole.

A community land trust accomplishes these objectives through unique structures of governance and land ownership. First, to ensure that it is responsive to its stakeholders and to the needs of its community, the governing body of a community land trust is generally comprised of one-third lessees of the community land trust’s land, one-third residents of the community it serves, and one-third members of the broader public.

A community land trust will never relinquish ownership of the land it holds but sells the structures that sit on the land while leasing the land itself to the purchaser via a long-term ground lease. The lease gives the owner of the building the exclusive right to use and occupy the land, while the community land trust controls the occupancy, use and disposition of the land through various contractual safeguards.

The long-term ground lease thus becomes the mechanism by which a community land trust can ensure that housing remains affordable in perpetuity, while still providing the homeowner with the economic benefits of homeownership. The community land trust will usually subsidize a low-income resident’s home purchase, but the ground lease will require them to agree to a specific re-sale formula designed to ensure that the seller shares in the home’s appreciation. At the same time, the home remains affordable, and the initial subsidy is preserved, for the next purchaser. The best structured community land trusts also provide pre-purchase education and other post-purchase stewardship services to support homeowners and facilitate their economic mobility.

Ultimately, community land trusts don’t merely alleviate the poverty of individual residents or address rising home prices or gentrification, as critical as those goals are. Community land trusts ensure that a community remains sustainable, affordable and responsive to the needs of residents today and indefinitely, objectives your community may wish to pursue.

If you would like to explore the possibility of creating a Community Land Trust for your neighborhood, please reach out to Marc Lane, in confidence. He can be reached at MLane@MarcJ.Lane.com or 312/800-372-1040.

Jeremy Kritt is an associate attorney with The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, P.C.