A seminar – Wednesday March 25, 10:30 am to 1:00 pm – Mitchell
Theatre, Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Street,
Sydney

Presented by the Urban Research Centre of the University of Western
Sydney and Shelter NSW with special guest from the USA, John Davis

For details, flyer and registration: http://www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/fly0903seminar-about.html

What are community land trusts? How do they promote affordable
housing? What are their prospects?

Community land trusts are non-profit organisations set up to buy and
steward land for affordable housing and other public purposes. They
lease the land to property holders on a long-term basis, typically 99
years with use and resale restrictions set out in the ground lease. In
the USA, community land trusts underlie affordable rental and shared
equity homes, as well as community and commercial enterprises. Nearly
all community land trusts lease land to owner-occupiers to build and
occupy private housing (freeing the resident from buying land) –
conditions on the resale of the housing at affordable prices are
imposed, to retain the subsidy the resident received through the
community land trust. Many community land trusts also lease their land
to non-profit developers and providers of affordable rental housing,
allowing housing providers to save on project development costs by not
having to purchase land themselves.

Community land trusts are growing in the USA, and the government of
England has just finished a consultation on how it can assist the
development of more community land trusts there.