International Center for Community Land Trusts -

International Center for Community Land Trusts

We are a not-for-profit nongovernmental organization established in 2018 to promote and to support community land trusts and similar strategies of community-led development on community-owned land in countries throughout the world.

Photo of Grupo Esperança community and the Favela-CLT Project (Catalytic Communities, Brazil)

Just Released!

Book cover for Preserving Affordable Homeownership

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy has released a new Policy Focus Report, Preserving Affordable Homeownership: Municipal Partnerships with Community Land Trusts, by John Emmeus Davis and Kristin King-Ries of the International Center for Community Land Trusts.

Drawing on insights from 115 community land trusts (CLTs) that were interviewed or surveyed by the International Center for Community Land Trusts, the report explores how CLTs are partnering with public officials to help address the housing affordability crisis. In this innovative model, individuals buy homes on land that is leased from a local CLT and agree to limit the resale price, reducing the upfront cost of homeownership and keeping those homes affordable for one income-qualified household after another.

Preserving Affordable Homeownership builds on the Lincoln Institute’s 2008 Policy Focus Report The City-CLT Partnership, coauthored by Davis and Rick Jacobus.

Read the Press Release

CLTs in the News

It’s Time for Funders To Put Their Money Behind Community Ownership, Mike Pollio, Will Delaney, Dawn Phillips & Lorraine Deguzman, Next City, March 17, 2025
Montreal set to ‘deconstruct’ vacant municipal building for future Louvain eco-district and land trust, Linda Gyulai, The Gazette, March 12, 2025
McKinsey’s five bold solutions to the affordable housing crisis, McKinsey and Company, March 10, 2025
Fixing the Housing Crisis Goes Beyond Building More Units, Next City, March 6, 2025 (podcast featuring Maggie Walker CLT)
Father’s House Restoration Ministries Launches a Community Land Trust, openPR, March 5, 2025 (press release)
Council OKs up to $5M for property acquisition by Lahaina Community Land Trust, Brian Perry, MauiNow, February 25, 2025
Irvine Community Land Trust Bets $26.5 Million on Office-to-Housing Conversion, Parimal Rohit, Orange County Business Journal, February 24, 2025
Detroit farmers find stable ground in Detroit’s first community land trust, Tamia Davis, Planet Detroit, February 19, 2025
Grounded Solutions’ Homes for the Future Initiative Named a 2025 Ivory Prize Top 25 Finalist, Izzy Woodruff, Grounded Solutions Network, February 18, 2025
Are land trusts the future of Canadian housing?, Frances, Bula, The Globe and Mail, February 18, 2025
Beyond Apology Commission Recommends Housing Subsidies, Land Reclamation in North Tulsa, Emory Bryan, News 9, February 17, 2025
A Look at Community Land Trusts and How They Combat the Affordable Housing Crisis, Rebecca Scheid, TIME, February 2, 2025
Can Community Land Trusts Revitalize a Declining Chinatown?, Phenix Kim, Documented NY, January 16, 2025
A New Dawn for Community-Driven Housing: Hastings Commons Wins Gold Award, World Habitat, January 9, 2025

Terra Nostra Press

Terra Nostra Press publishes books, monographs, and manuals in support of the CLT Center’s work. These publications showcase the theory and practice of community land trusts, along with the stories of reflective practitioners from around the world who are laying the foundation for an international CLT movement.

CLT Map + Directory

We curate the definitive global map and directory of community land trusts.

Resource Library

We have the most extensive collection of materials about community land trusts in the world. You can find how-to guides, academic papers, case studies, interviews with leading practitioners, as well as information about the history of the global CLT movement.

What Is a CLT?

This page will help you get started on your journey of learning about community land trusts.