Empowering Black Communities Through Land Trusts in Nova Scotia: In Nova Scotia, historic Black communities are adopting the concept of community land trusts to address housing affordability, drawing inspiration from the American civil rights movement. Initiatives like the Down the Marsh community land trust in Truro and proposals in Upper Hammonds Plains and Halifax aim to secure land for community development, affordable housing, and the sustenance of historical Black communities. These efforts highlight the growing movement towards collective land ownership as a means to combat housing challenges and community fragmentation.
Brussels CLT: Pioneering Affordable Housing for Vulnerable Communities in Europe: CLTB in Belgium, established in 2012, offers affordable, sustainable housing to economically vulnerable groups, including over 80% of its residents who identify as refugees or immigrants. With 110 units across four buildings and an additional 100 under construction, CLTB has become a model for inclusive, community-driven housing in one of Europe’s most expensive cities. Supported by government subsidies, CLTB ensures long-term accessibility and fosters community solidarity, winning the World Habitat award in 2021 for its innovative approach to housing. This article contains videos about CLTB in French with English subtitles.
Lahaina Rises: Defending Community Land Against Post-Disaster Exploitation: After devastating wildfires in Maui, opportunistic investors targeted the historic town of Lahaina, offering to buy burned-out properties from traumatized survivors. In response, the Lahaina Community Land Trust (LCLT) emerged to preserve affordable housing and the town's unique character by thwarting these land grabs. LCLT aims to keep Lahaina's lands in local hands, focusing on acquiring plots for affordable housing and culturally significant sites, thus ensuring the community's long-term stability against external pressures and speculative development.
The European CLT Network, alongside ‘And The People’ and the Circular Building Coalition, have released a whitepaper titled “A social foundation for material impact: Community Land Trusts as drivers of circularity for a just transition” outlining how CLTs can spearhead a shift towards a sustainable and circular built environment. Highlighting 29 European CLT initiatives and interviews with seven notable projects, the document presents CLTs as crucial for promoting long-term sustainability over short-term gains.
Join us 17-18 May 2024 as we celebrate World CLT Day—a global event dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness about community land trusts!
Between now and 18 May, upload a video, photo, or text featuring people and places from your CLT to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #WorldCLTDay2024
For this year's events, we designed a website that serves as a one-stop digital hub for all your World CLT Day resources. Here you'll find the following multilingual resources:
