2025 CDS Annual Conference

Description: In recent years, community land trusts (CLTs) have emerged as an alternative land
ownership strategy to promote affordable housing, community ownership, democratic decision-
making, and community wealth building opportunities, especially for marginalized groups.
However, little is known about the complicated nature of scaling up CLT landownership in urban
neighborhoods to actualize their promise. Moreover, multiple stakeholders are playing
significant roles in the expansion of these models, bringing into question the power dynamics
inherent in CLT efforts. By ethnographically examining the evolution of five CLTs in three
different cities—Chicago, Memphis, and San Diego—we address the complexities of CLT
implementation including the role of the community, organizers and funders, and the power
dynamics between the groups.

Conference Theme: CLTs have immense potential to overcome U.S. the inaffordability,
political polarization, and individual wealth building inherent in our cities and country. Despite
the use of CLTs in the U.S. since at least the 1960s, the academic literature on these models is
still scarce and local and state stakeholders lack case study research to effectively advocate for
them. Findings of this qualitative study will assist future communities in their attempts to
establish and scale up CLTs so they can reach their regional potential. As such, this paper speaks
to the conference themes of place-based collaboration and people-driven solutions. First, CLTs
are place-based collaborations that pool the resources of multiple stakeholders. This includes the
economic resources of funders, the technical resources of organizers, and the local knowledge
and democratic participation of residents and community members. Our paper attempts to
facilitate knowledge sharing about the power dynamics involved in these collaborations to
improve future iterations in other neighborhoods and cities. Furthermore, CLTs are at their core
people-driven solutions. CLTs are established for the benefit of community members’ access to
ownership, affordability of housing, and amplification of their collective voices. We discuss
implications for increasing inclusivity and empowerment in these models.