Community Land Trust (CLT)

What Is a Community Land Trust?

A community land trust (CLT) is an organization that acquires land and holds it permanently so the housing on it stays affordable. Most CLTs are nonprofits. A home on CLT land is sold or rented to a lower- or moderate-income household. The land underneath stays with the trust.

Because the buyer does not pay for the land, and the house is often subsidized as well, the price is well below market. In return, the owner accepts limits on resale. This arrangement is a leading form of shared equity homeownership.

How a CLT Works

• Ground lease. The homeowner owns the house and leases the land from the CLT, often under a renewable 99-year lease.
• Resale formula. When the owner sells, the price is capped by a formula written into the lease. The seller typically recovers what they invested plus a limited share of any gain. The next buyer, who must also qualify by income, gets an affordable price.
• Stewardship. The CLT monitors its homes over time to make sure they stay affordable and go to income-qualified buyers.
• Governance. Grounded Solutions Network describes the typical board as a balance of CLT residents, community residents, and public representatives.

Federal housing law has defined CLTs since 1992. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which became law in July 2026, replaced that definition with a new one in the statute behind the HOME program. A qualifying CLT can be a nonprofit or a state or local government entity that is not run by a for-profit company. It must exist mainly to hold land for permanently affordable housing, keep homes affordable for at least 30 years, and keep an option to buy them back. The same law authorized a HUD grant program for fiscal years 2027 to 2031 to convert vacant and abandoned buildings into housing. Grant money can be used to start or expand CLTs, if Congress appropriates funds.

Example

Suppose a home is worth $350,000 on the open market. A CLT uses a $100,000 subsidy and keeps title to the land, so the buyer pays $250,000. If the resale formula lets the seller keep 25% of the market gain, and the home’s market value rises by $60,000, the seller would get about $15,000 of that gain plus their own equity. The next buyer pays around $265,000 instead of $410,000, and the original subsidy stays with the home.

A long-running real example is Vermont’s Burlington Community Land Trust, founded in 1984 with city support and now part of the Champlain Housing Trust.

Why It Matters for Workforce Housing

CLTs can give moderate-income workers a path to ownership near their jobs in markets where prices have outrun wages. The tradeoff is that owners build less wealth than an unrestricted sale in a rising market might yield. CLTs also depend on ongoing funding and staff to manage resales and support homeowners.