Community Land Trust
A nonprofit that holds land in common and leases it to residents, capturing rising land value for the community — a Georgist principle applied at neighborhood scale.
Definition
A community land trust (CLT) is a nonprofit organisation that owns land and leases it long-term to residents or businesses, who own the buildings on it. By separating ownership of land from improvements, a CLT captures the rising value of the land for the community rather than letting it accrue to individual owners — applying the Georgist land/building distinction at neighbourhood scale.
How It Embodies Georgist Ideas
Because the CLT retains the land and charges a ground lease, the unearned increment of rising land value is captured collectively (often used to keep housing permanently affordable) — a voluntary, local form of land value capture. The model descends partly from Ebenezer Howard's garden cities and the single-tax colonies like Fairhope, which pioneered community land ownership with ground rents.
See Also
Sources
- Histories of the community land trust movement, tracing roots to Fairhope and the garden-city tradition.