Community land trusts take aim at rising rents
A collective land-ownership model could put the brakes on rising real estate costs. In 2006, neighbors in Philadelphia?s Eastern North section got a vision of the future?and it was a troubling sight.
The area, near Temple University and largely lower income and Latino, was beginning to feel the influence of nearby developments, loft-to-condo conversions that had been a harbinger of rising rents and displacement in similar neighborhoods. Eastern North residents felt they were next.
Motivated by a desire to fill the vacant lots in their neighborhood?and fears of getting priced out of their homes?residents turned to an old solution to address the new reality of rising rents: a community land trust. The trust was established under the banner of the Eastern North Philadelphia Coalition, which joined community groups, nonprofits, and community members. In an era of both rising land values and speculation, the Community Justice Land Trust?s formation gave residents in Eastern North a way to take some control over nearby development. The basic idea behind community land trusts is bifurcated ownership: The community owns the land in perpetuity via a nonprofit, while homeowners or building owners take out extended ground leases.
?When you look at how homes appreciate over time and what markets do over time, we started to ask ourselves, ?How do you take out the cost of land"?? says Christi Clark, the organizing director of the Women?s Community Revitalization Project, on...
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