The Public Interest Law Project (PILP) advances justice for low income people and communities by building the capacity of legal services organizations through impact litigation, trainings, and publications, and by advocating for low income community groups and individuals. Click here to access report.

Land ownership, use, and control are critical to creating conditions for racial equity and housing stability. Recognizing this, the Public Interest Law Project developed this brief to provide a foundation for strategic planning in support of legal services attorneys and economic and housing justice partners working on land use and housing issues. Click here to access report.

This long-awaited follow-up to The City-CLT Partnership provides new and updated information about current policy collaborations among community land trusts, cities, counties, and states. Drawing on insights from 115 US CLTs that were interviewed or surveyed by the International Center for CLTs, the report explores how CLTs are partnering with public officials to help address the housing affordability crisis. Click here to access.

Please note that if you are interested in purchasing a copy, discounts are available to nonprofits in bulk purchases. 

Community land trusts (CLTs) provide long-term affordable housing and offer a range of mechanisms that may improve the health and wellbeing of low-income households. Click here to access this report.

This study updates and expands on this previous effort and represents the most exhaustive study of CLT/SE entities to date. Employing extensive primary and secondary data collection strategies that encompassed consolidation of multiple directories, online surveying, web-based data queries, and field expert outreach, we systematically and rigorously tracked the prevalence, practices, and outcomes of CLT/SE entities in the United States and Puerto Rico. Click here to access this report.

In this article, LISC gives a brief overview of how TOPA and COPA campaigns have been successful in homeownership. Some successful case studies mentioned are in SF and D.C. Click here to access this report.

Throughout this report, LISC provides financial strategies in acquiring a CLT and conveying lessons learned through previous cases. Learn more about this report here. 

This paper focuses on the importance of affordable housing preservation, especially via community-controlled models, and offers key recommendations to deeply research and develop during the business planning process and then implement through BAHFA’s pilot programs and long-term programming. You can find this paper here. 

Through the Transformative Climate Communities project, T.R.U.S.T. South LA (TSLA) and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT) developed a list of key findings to advance community ownership and stewardship of land and advance joint development of parks and housing. Please find this report here.

This study documents the State and City of Los Angeles’s processes for implementing the SLA amendments, and assesses one type of surplus public land within the boundaries of T.R.U.S.T. South LA and a neighboring CLT. Learn more about this report here. 

In an effort to combat systemic racism in land use planning and inequitable real estate investment activities that have oppressed the working class, low-income communities are finding creative ways to build community wealth. As exorbitant rents push families out of their homes and neighborhoods, grassroots groups and communities of color are pursuing Community Land Trusts (CLTs) to promote community stewardship of the land and to create access to permanently affordable housing. While a majority of CLTs focus on fostering permanently affordable housing, there is great flexibility in the kinds of land uses that CLTs can pursue, including for instance, agricultural projects. In California, grassroots organizations such as THRIVE Santa Ana and the Oakland Community Land Trust (OakCLT) are putting the CLT model into practice to respond to their communities’ needs and pave the way for disinvested communities to secure housing access. Find this report here. 

The book is a collection of twenty-six original essays, written by forty-two scholars and practitioners from a dozen countries, tracing the growth and diversification of the international community land trust movement. Click here to find the book.

This document goes over how CLTs are positioned not only to address current racial and economic inequalities that have emerged during COVID-19, but to repair historic inequities that for generations have been perpetuated and enhanced through land ownership, land use and development practices. Find this report here. 

This guide synthesizes the strategies of transformative community land organizations (TCLOs): those that share the guiding principles of decommodifications of land, racial justice, economic democracy, and transformative politics. You can learn more here.

In this report, we introduce real-world examples of alternative solutions and responses to the housing crisis—rooted in permanent affordability and democratic community control—that people are actively working on in the Bay Area and beyond. Click here for more information.

The paper introduces real-world examples of alternative solutions and responses to the housing crisis—rooted in permanent affordability and democratic community control—that people are actively working on in the Bay Area and beyond. Find out more here. 

This report recommends a 20/20 Vision to advance this new fair development approach: $20 million in city funds annually committed for community-based jobs to deconstruct and green vacant houses, and $20 million in city funds annually committed for permanently affordable housing. This initiative involves public financing, public assistance with property acquisition, and public support for community infrastructure and planning in Baltimore. Find out more here. 

The article calls to action for the necessity of a genuine housing security (as presented in the article about the experiences and knowledge of low-income communities across the country) framework. Click here for more information. 

This paper examines the potential role of community land trusts (CLTs) to help address these concerns and ensure that transit-oriented development (TOD) is affordable to lower income households over the long term. Using case studies of CLTs engaged in TOD efforts in Atlanta, Denver, and the Twin Cities, this paper explores the opportunities, challenges, and supports that exist for CLTs eyeing future TOD endeavors. Find out more here.