Community Land Trusts for Artists and other Low Income People

In spite of the assumption that artists have poor organizational skills, it's not true. Creative people around the country have, and are, organizing to create affordable, and environmentally appropriate, space, especially now that it's becoming increasingly difficult to be a working artist.

One important option for communities - from low income urban groups to land based intentional communities - is the COMMUNITY LAND TRUST. There are several organizations in the U.S. that have long assisted groups to create CLT's - among them the School of Living, based in Pennsylvania. Last year it was my pleasure to attend their conference on Community, and to meet again my friend Rita Jane Leasure, who is still the President of the School of Living. More on THE SCHOOL OF LIVING later............ http://www.schoolofliving.org/landtrust.htm

For information on artists in Chicago that have created a CLT, visit: http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/?q=node/455

I copy below information on ICE, and information about both urban and rural CLT's, and excerpt from an excellent article by Winton Pitcoff.

Institute for Community Economics
Sarah Page, Executive Director
57 School Street
Springfield, MA 01105-1331
413-746-8660
fax 413-746-8862
www.iceclt.org

Excerpt from:

Affordable Forever
Land Trusts Keep Housing Within Reach
By Winton Pitcoff

For the article http://www.landcentre.ca/lcframedoc.cfm?ID=3763

The Institute for Community Economics (ICE), one of the early champions of the movement, defines a community land trust as a private nonprofit corporation created to acquire and hold land for the benefit of a community and provide secure affordable access to land and housing for community residents. Community land trusts develop housing through renovation or new construction, and sell (or sometimes rent) the units to low-income families; the CLT leases the land to the families, who agree to restrictions on how the house can be transferred in the future. As a result, CLTs are able to produce high-quality affordable housing, and keep it affordable in perpetuity.

Sustainability is one of the defining characteristics of a community land trust. Because the CLT owns the land and restricts who can purchase the home in perpetuity, it can ensure permanent affordability for the unit, unlike the many subsidy programs that have time limits. Because homebuyers rely on mortgages and other traditional financing tools to purchase the house, there is no long-term debt for the organization beyond the cost of the land itself; no ongoing subsidies are required. Most CLTs carry no debt on the land they own, thanks to initial grants from housing trust funds, other government programs, and philanthropic sources. And when CLT homeowners move out, the resale formulas that govern the sale balance the need to maintain affordability and the owner’s right to recapture some of the appreciated value of the home.

Permanent affordability makes the CLT model stand out from other models of affordable housing development, says Carey Shea, a program officer at the Surdna Foundation, which supports ICE’s work. “Originally the 15-, 20-, or even 30-year affordability plans looked good because none of us anticipated how the markets would change,” she says. But now, with subsidies expiring on tens of thousands of units around the country, the appeal of the CLT model, particularly in areas where the housing market is tight, is even more apparent.

“CLTs build wealth for both the community and the individual homeowners,” explains ICE Executive Director Sarah Page. “The community gets permanently affordable, stewarded land, and the homeowners get all of the advantages of owning a home – security, a chance for appreciated value, tax benefits, and a bridge over the gap between rental and market-rate homeownership.”