| What is a Landtrust?
A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a means to acquire land and develop affordable housing for qualified residents. It protects the community’s long-term interest by continuing to own land while conveying the long-term use of the land to individual home-owners/leaseholders. This “dual ownership” framework protects the land from significant price escalation while providing an opportunity for low-to-middle income residents for home ownership. This, in turn, provides economic diversity within the community.
 Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are nonprofit organizations that combine community ownership of land with private ownership of homes. There are hundreds of CLTs across the nation and over 15 across the Pacific Northwest.
CLTs hold land in perpetuity for the benefit of the community and the residents of that community. Leaseholders own houses and other improvements on the land, with their rights secured by a renewable 99-year lease. Resale value is limited by lease agreement terms so that properties remain affordable in the future. Land use restrictions also protect the natural environment.
To insure long-term affordability, CLTs restrict the resale of the home. In the event of a sale, a homeowner must sell to a household in the same income bracket that they were in when they purchased the house. This method keeps houses affordable for future purchasers, while allowing some equity gain for the original owner.
To insure the establishment of a common understanding for neighborhood “quality of life”, the leaseholders create and agree to abide by a set of restrictive covenants (CCRs). These covenants address issues such as automobiles, pets, noise, fencing and landscaping and define a dispute resolution process.
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