What is a community land trust?
What makes ECCLT distinctive?
How does ECCLT help residents?
Are CLTs supported by local governments?
How do people join ECCLT?
How are ECCLT homeowner/leaseholders selected?
How much control do I give up by not owning the land beneath my house?
What kind of support does a CLT provide for first-time homeowners?
How does ECCLT acquire property?
Will banks and other financial institutions make loans for homes on leased land?
How does ECCLT make homeownership affordable?
What happens if a leaseholder wants to move away from the CLT owned property?
How is the resale price of a home determined?
Why bother with resale formulas? Why doesn't ECCLT simply allow leaseholders to sell their houses on the open market for whatever price they can get?
How does ECCLT deal with multi-family buildings located on ECCLT land?
Isn't a mixed ownership arrangement of this sort -- with buildings owned by one party and the land by another -- pretty rare?
Does ECCLT pay property taxes?
Does ECCLT ever sell its land?
What happens to ECCLT's land and lease arrangements if the ECCLT is dissolved?
What happens if disputes arise between leaseholders, or between a leaseholder and the ECCLT?

What is a community land trust?
A communit land trust is a private non-profit corporation created to acquire and hold land for the benefit of a community and provide secure affordable access to land and housing for community residents. In particular, CLTs attempt to meet the needs of residents least served by the prevailing market. CLTs prohibit speculation and absentee ownership of land and housing, promote ecologically sound land-use practices, and preserve the long-term affordability of housing.

What makes ECCLT distinctive?
Several things - here are five:

• Commitment to Local Control. CLTs are initiated to provide greater local control over land and housing ownership. The ECCLT is a membership organization with members drawn from the land-trust leaseholders and the wider community. ECCLT members elect a governing board that includes leaseholders, nonresident members and others who represent the broader community interest.
• Dual Ownership. The way in which the ECCLT protects the community's long-term interests is by continuing to own land while conveying the long-term use of the land to individuals, cooperatives or other entities. Leaseholders own their homes and other improvements. Terms of the arrangement between ECCLT and an owner using the land are defined in a long-term lease. The land trust offers leaseholders security, an opportunity to transfer the lease to their heirs, and full rights of privacy.
• Protects Long-term Affordability of Housing. CLTs protect affordability for future residents by controlling the sale of buildings and other improvements on their land. Specifically, ECCLT retains an option to repurchase these improvements -- if residents choose to sell -- at a limited price. The ECCLT lease agreement includes a formula for calculating this price that offers resident-owners fair compensation for their investment. (Their share does not include value from market appreciation of ECCLT's investment in the land or buildings.)
• An Ongoing Development Program. ECCLT IS not generally focused on a single project. ECCLT is committed to an active acquisition and development program that attempts to meet diverse community needs.
• Flexibility. ECCLT can accommodate a range of specific programs while providing a focus for community organizing. ECCLT can help create and preserve such critical local resources as affordable housing, family farms, neighborhood businesses and social services while establishing land-use controls that protect the long-term interests of the community. Although ECCLT will generally promote resident ownership and management, ECCLT may also develop and preserve needed rental housing.

How does ECCLT help residents?
By providing access, affordability, assistance and security. ECCLT will use various kinds of subsidies to make housing and land use more affordable for people who cannot compete in the market. ECCLT keeps housing affordable for future generations by controlling the price owners receive when they sell their homes. ECCLT may assist residents with home repair, rehabilitation and/or financing. The lease agreement offers residents and their heirs long-term security.

Are CLTs supported by local governments?
Yes. Though some of the first CLTs were started in communities suffering from government neglect, it is now more common for CLTs to work in cooperation with local governments in meeting present and future community needs. Public officials are recognizing that CLTs can play an important role as stewards of community resources -- that property and funds allocated to a CLT can benefit not only present community members but future residents as well. A number of municipalities have allocated Community Development Block Grant and HOME funds, as well as other available resources, to CLT programs. Some have allocated city owned land. State housing financing agencies are increasingly interested in making financing available for housing on CLT land, and several state legislatures have acted to appropriate special funds to finance acquisitions by land trusts.

How do people join ECCLT?
Each CLT develops its own membership criteria. Most CLTs require an annual membership fee of a few dollars and expect members to attend at least an orientation session or a general meeting.

How are ECCLT homeowner/leaseholders selected?
Each local CLT develops its selection criteria based on local needs and resources available. When possible, occupants of buildings acquired by a CLT are given the opportunity to stay as homeowner/leaseholders or renters. Applicants for vacant units are normally judged on the basis of need, commitment to the CLT, and ability to make the necessary payments and handle other responsibilities of homeownership.

How much control do I give up by not owning the land beneath my house?
Leaseholders -- homeowners, farm owners, or business owners -- retain most of the rights and responsibilities that go with ownership. CLT control is generally limited to areas where the CLT has a long-term interest. For example, it is vital to the CLT to preserve affordability of housing units. Most leases also prohibit absentee ownership of housing because it is generally not in the community interest. Also, CLTs want to protect the condition of the land and buildings which would be left at the end of the lease term.

What kind of support does a CLT provide for first-time homeowners?
A CLT does not leave new homeowners to sink or swim on their own. The ability to provide support depends on the resources available to each local CLT. Some CLTs provide homeowner training and assistance. Some CLTs have developed home repair loan funds and have made special arrangements for leaseholders who face unexpected financial problems.

How does ECCLT acquire property?
ECCLT buys or receives gifts of property. Because ECCLT is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, it can use a variety of tools to lower the cost of acquiring property. ECCLT will sometimes receive donated property or donations to buy property. ECCLT will have receive loans from socially responsible investors -- directly or through intermediaries such as community loan funds and ICE's Revolving Loan Fund -- to finance acquisition and construction. Normally they can arrange long-term financing from other sources.

Will banks and other financial institutions make loans for homes on leased land?
Yes. There are dozens of banks, housing finance agencies and other mortgage lenders who lend to CLTs. CLTs have been able to negotiate mortgage agreements that address the legitimate concerns of lenders and also protect the CLT's long-term interest in the property by allowing the CLT to step in and cure a default, when necessary, to prevent the property from being sold on the open market.

How does ECCLT make homeownership affordable?
The greatest advantage of ECCLT is its ability to preserve affordability for future generations. ECCLT can use a variety of tools to make housing affordable. ECCLT can arrange financing for people who cannot qualify for home mortgages from conventional sources. Other ECCLT can sometimes work to minimize the hurdle of large downpayments for first-time homebuyers by creating a downpayment loan pool.

Residents generally must be able to handle monthly mortgage payments and other costs (including reasonable lease fees for use of the land).

What happens if a leaseholder wants to move away from the CLT owned property?
After giving the ECCLT adequate notice, a leaseholder may sell the improvements to an eligible buyer, transfer the lease, and move away. Since ECCLT will commonly retain an option to buy all improvements on ECCLT land, a leaseholder who wishes to leave may sell his/her house to ECCLT. ECCLT will, in turn, sell this house and lease the land to a new leaseholder.

How is the resale price of a home determined?
ECCLT has a formula that will determine the maximum amount to be paid when a homeowner sells his or her home. The formula may take into account the value of improvements made by the homeowner, and it may allow the price to be adjusted for inflation. Generally, the aim is to give the homeowner a fair return while limiting the price to insure the home will be affordable for the next low-income owner.

Why bother with resale formulas? Why doesn't ECCLT simply allow leaseholders to sell their houses on the open market for whatever price they can get?
A resale formula keeps housing affordable for future leaseholders. If land is removed from the marketplace, but not the buildings that are on the land, then the speculative value that would have been accrued to the land is merely transferred to buildings on the land. Furthermore, if housing is in short supply, then residential structures become the object of intense speculative activity. The real estate market pushes prices higher, making access to land and housing more difficult for persons of modest means.

Also, in many cases, the owner has benefited from various kinds of public or community subsidies made available with the understanding that the value of these subsidies would remain in the property. By allowing only a fair return on owner investment, ECCLT locks subsidies in for the benefit of future residents of the community.

How does ECCLT deal with multi-family buildings located on ECCLT land?
In one of three ways: condominium, single family owner-occupant, or rental.

Isn't a mixed ownership arrangement of this sort -- with buildings owned by one party and the land by another -- pretty rare?
Not as rare as you may think. The separation of land and buildings and the leasing of land to the owner of the buildings is an old, established and widely-used mechanism. Many substantial commercial buildings are on leased land, perhaps the most famous of these being Rockefeller Center in New York City. There are large areas where people own homes on leased land: Baltimore, Maryland; Davis County, California; and many other regions. A great example is Pensacola Beach. The county owns the land, and homeowners own the improvements to the land. It is now becoming more common for developers to establish residential projects on leased land.

Does ECCLT pay property taxes?
Yes. Residents pay taxes on their homes if they own them and ECCLT pays property taxes on landholdings. It is politically important for ECCLT to pay for its share of services enjoyed by the neighborhood.

Does ECCLT ever sell its land?
Very rarely. Once ECCLT has acquired a parcel of land, its intent is to hold it indefinitely -- never again allowing the land to be bought and sold as a commodity. Historically, there have been situations, however, when other CLTs have found it prudent to sell a parcel of land -- exchanging land that is not appropriate for the CLT's purposes for land that is, or selling off some land to avoid losing the rest. In our case we have provisions in our bylaws to address these kinds of situations.

What happens to ECCLT's land and lease arrangements if the ECCLT is dissolved?
If a ECCLT is dissolved, ownership of the land must transferred, to another non -profit organization and all leaseholdings will honored.

What happens if disputes arise between leaseholders, or between a leaseholder and the ECCLT?
The parties will try to negotiate before litigating. The lease agreement establishes an arbitration procedure for settling disputes or grievances. Typically each party may appoint an arbitrator. The first two arbitrators select a third. The three-person arbitration panel then meets to consider the case and to render a judgment. The decisions and awards of this panel are usually binding on all parties.