H.O.M.E. –Homeworkers Organized for More Employment, a Catholic community, extensively uses the community land trusts model to create home ownership for very low income families.  They have seen families move from living in tents and their cars to purchasing their homes. How can they do this?  At HOME they control much of the homebuilding process with their own forest and sawmill, which they use to make their own cabinetry and shingle siding---thus lowering the cost of materials. Many of the purchasers of their land trust homes participate in these processes, thus making the homes even more affordable.

The origins of the Community Land Trust are imported from India, Israel, borne out of the civil rights movement. This model of permanently affordable homeownership has evolved carrying with it a list of guiding principles and governance that ensure its success. How does it work?  A non-profit owns the land but the families own the actual building–their home.  Community Land Trusts are little known, yet a viable, underutilized model. Cities across the country are beginning to use CLTs to preserve their affordable housing stock and to fight gentrification by removing land from the speculative market, while offering homeownership.