Community Land Trusts Worldwide

The first ever Community Land Trust in the United States, in its modern form at least, came in 1967 with the formation of New Communities Inc. – a 5,700-acre (23 km2) land trust and farm collective, owned and operated by approximately a dozen black farm farmers who had been denied access to land throughout the segregated south. Brought together by Slater King (cousin of Martin Luther King Jr.) and Robert Swann, the site in Southwest Georgia became one of the largest-acreage African American-owned properties in the United States.

Today, there are over 250 Community Land Trusts across the US.

The CLT Network USA was incorporated in 2006, picking up the mantle from the Institute for Community Economics to provide support and leadership for CLTs across the country. The National Community Land Trust Network provides training, advocacy and resources for its member organizations, so that they may nurture and sustain healthy and economically diverse communities by providing permanently affordable access to land, homes, and related resources.

As a membership organization, its first duty is to develop resources for its member organizations. Its website is designed to be a place to share ideas and lessons learned, and all of its trainings are designed to both introduce newcomers to the basics about CLTs, as well as to increase the level of knowledge and skills of experienced CLT practitioners. In recent years, the US CLT Network has led the way on promoting international collaborative efforts to co-ordinate policy initiatives and advocacy between CLTs, emerging CLTs and municipalities worldwide.

The Bonnevie community center is a non-profit organization, founded in 1977 following massive demolition for the construction of the subway in the heart of Molenbeek. Characterised by high unemployment rates and poor housing conditions,the area has long been thought of as the poorest of the nineteen municipalities which make up the Belgium capital.

Since then, Bonnevie has developed a number of neighborhood based program in this area, and housing is central to its operation. This includes both housing in the broader sense (the coexistence of different communities in the neighborhood, the quality of public space) and the access to affordable, quality housing. Bonnevie is open to all residents of the neighborhood, giving priority to the poorest.

Bonnevie has always been renowned for its innovation in terms of housing. One of the main achievements in this field is the project "l'Espoir" a housing project in rue Fin. The community center took the initiative in 2004, after they realized that, due to the housing crisis, it was no longer possible to find decent and affordable housing for large families. Bonnevie established a partnership with the Fonds du Logement, CIRE and 14 families in housing need. From the start, great importance was attached to the participation of these families in the realization of the project. Bonnevie was responsible for the framework for this participation. This innovative approach led to a number of groundbreaking solutions.

From the positive experience of l’Espoir, Bonnevie’s team went on the lookout for new formulas enabling them to reproduce it. This led them to Community Land Trusts. It brought them into contact with other Brussels organizations who also were interested in the formula. After a study visit to the USA in September 2009, Bonnevie is one of the lead organisations in spreading the CLTmodel in Belgium.