Community Land Trusts 101

As community land trusts have slowly but steadily spread across 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and taken root in half-a-dozen countries outside of the United States, the model itself has evolved.  It has added new features over the years and been structured, operated, and applied in many different ways.   The materials collected (or referenced) in this section of our CLT RESOURCE collection examine the origins and characteristics of the “classic CLT,” while introducing some of the most common variations in this versatile model of affordable housing and community development.

• Introduction to Community Land Trusts: Equitable and Sustainable Community Development [a QuickTime movie] – Michael Brown
• Origins and Evolutions of the Community Land Trust in the United States – John Davis
• The Diverse World of CLTs, Chapter 1 of Starting a CLT: Organizational and Operational Choices – John Davis
• Rationale, Chapter 2 of Starting a CLT: Organizational and Operational Choices – John Davis
• Introducing the CLT, Chapter 1 of The City/CLT Partnership – John Davis and Rick Jacobus
• Community Land Trusts: The Developer That Doesn’t Go Away – John Davis
• Key Characteristics of Community Land Trusts, Rationale and Variations – John Davis
• Democracy Collaborative Interview with John Emmeus Davis (April 2011)
• Frequently Asked Questions About CLTs
• Cheaper Together: How Neighbors Invest in Community – Miriam Axel-Lute, John Emmeus Davis and Harold Simon, Yes (Summer 2012)
• Additional materials introducing the CLT
  • Affordable Homeownership – Ryan Sherriff, Urban Land (September 2009)
  • Community Land Trusts: An Alternative Approach to Affordable Homeownership and Neighborhood Revitalization – Market Wise Community, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Volume 3, Issue 1, July 2012