As housing prices skyrocket in neighborhoods across the country, some state lawmakers and local officials are turning to a decades-old model for keeping homes affordable: community land trusts.
Known as CLTs, community land trusts are mostly nonprofit organizations that operate within a specific neighborhood facing development pressure. They acquire and own land while selling homes that sit on the property or leasing apartments and commercial space. The trusts’ permanent ownership prevents the land from being scooped up by developers and converted to high-dollar housing.
The split ownership removes the land value from the purchase price of the home. And homeowners who buy from community land trusts usually have incomes below a certain percentage of the area median; some trust programs include down payment assistance. Residents build equity in their homes, but a formula set by the trust caps the resale price at an affordable level for the next buyer.
