Community Land Trusts
There is a legal definition of what constitutes a Community Land Trust
- It is held for perpetuity
- Is community-owned
- Is community-controlled
- It is for the benefit of the community- not for private profit.
The purpose of a Community Land Trust is to provide access to land and housing that would be otherwise unaffordable due to the speculative value of land.
One mechanism for maintaining affordability is to build a house and sell it at cost (no profit-making) on the condition that it can only be sold back to you.
This is a simple explanation of a legally-complicated situation but it demonstrates how removing the effects of speculative buying (creating property price inflation) can maintain affordabilty.
If the community is building the house, it can have a say who lives in it and prevent it becoming another (valuable) second home.
