{"id":33527,"date":"2024-10-01T16:15:58","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T23:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/habitatportlandregion.org\/?p=33527"},"modified":"2025-03-03T10:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T18:48:24","slug":"learn-about-community-land-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/habitatportlandregion.org\/learn-about-community-land-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Lasting affordability and community land trusts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Portland recently passed its first Housing Production Strategy<\/a>, with a goal to create more than 120,000 units by 2045 to meet the projected housing demand. It wants 53% of them to be affordable to lower income households. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing that means a comprehensive plan with creative approaches to building affordable homes, not just for today, but well into the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Housing is considered affordable when its costs are no more than 30% of income, according to federal guidelines. But last year, less than half<\/strong> of home sales in Portland were considered affordable to households earning the area median income (AMI). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A top priority for Habitat Portland Region is lasting<\/em> affordability. That means the home price won\u2019t skyrocket on resale, and ensures future buyers get the same opportunity for affordable homeownership. To do this, Habitat partners with Proud Ground<\/a>, a community land trust, or CLT.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proud Ground started in 1999 as the Portland Community Land Trust. Over the last 25 years, Proud Ground has helped more than 650 families become first-time homeowners. More than 75% of those households are Black, Indigenous or people of color. Proud Ground has 530 homes in its land trust, with an additional 150 in the pipeline. But the need exceeds those numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat they saw at that time, and what we still see today, is just the lack of homeownership and in a way that it’s sustainable,\u201d said Proud Ground Executive Director Dominique Merriweather. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a CLT, a home is treated as a collective good and not a tool for private speculators. This helps create entry-level homeownership opportunities and prevent displacement of communities of color from neighborhoods that are gentrifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY LAND TRUST?<\/strong>\u00a0
A CLT is a non-profit organization that acquires and holds land as a community asset.
They\u2019re governed by a board of housing residents, community members and external stakeholders.\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first CLT was formed in 1969 out of the Civil Rights Movement. New Communities Inc., provided Black farmers access to land. Today the CLT model can be used for farming<\/a> or conservation<\/a>, but most often preserves affordable housing. The national organization for CLTs<\/a> estimates 330 community land trusts operate with a focus on shared equity homeownership. All newly built Habitat Portland Region homes are included in the CLT through Proud Ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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