Starting a Community Land Trust

This introductory manual describes the choices that every sponsor of a new community land trust must make. It presents the range of options for making each decision and reviews the pros and cons that should be weighed in selecting one course of action over another. These are choices of purpose, program, and scope that precede more technical deliberations over bylaws, ground lease, resale formula, and the like. Topics covered in this book include: characteristics of the “classic” model and its many variations, the rationale for supporting a CLT, the choice of sponsor and service area, strategies for educating and organizing core constituencies, and options for funding the CLT’s projects and operations. Extra attention is given to five “special topics”: the type and tenure of housing developed by a CLT, condominiums, governance, donations of land and buildings, and property taxes.