Community Land Trusts explained
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
With the growing pressure to find affordable accommodation and our excitement at the Canberra Land rent proposal, we thought it high time we showed you a growing trend through the northern hemisphere - Community Land Trusts
by Prosper Tasmania’s Leo Foley
(Based on material from the Institute of Community Economics, Massachusetts)
A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a democratically controlled nonprofit organization that owns real estate in order to provide benefits to its local community - and in particular to make land and housing available to residents who cannot otherwise afford them.
CLT’s recognise that land is a finite resource and will naturally appreciate in time due to social progress and population growth. This natural appreciation in land values is recycled back into the Community Land Trust to ensure that future home owners can afford to enter the CLT.
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