Community based

The CLT operates within the physical boundaries of a targeted locality. It is guided by – and accountable to – the people who call that place their home. Any adult who resides on the CLT’s land and any adult who resides within the geographic area deemed by the CLT to be its “community” can become a voting member of the CLT.

Resident Control

Two-thirds of a CLT’s board of directors are nominated by, elected by, and composed of people who either live on the CLT’s land or people who reside within the CLT’s targeted “community” but do not live on the CLT’s land.

Tripartite Governance

The board of directors of the "classic" CLT is composed of three parts, each containing an equal number of seats. One third of the board represents the interests of people who lease land from the CLT (“leaseholder representatives”). One third represents the interests of residents from the surrounding “community” who do not lease CLT land (“general representatives”). One third is made up of public officials, local funders, nonprofit providers of housing or social services, and other individuals presumed to speak for the public interest ("public representatives"). Control of the CLT’s board is diffused and balanced to ensure that all interests are heard but that no interest is predominant.

Expansionist Acquisition

CLTs are not focused on a single project. They are committed to an active acquisition and development program, aimed at expanding their holdings of land and increasing the supply of affordable housing (and other types of buildings) under their stewardship. Most CLTs do their own development with their own staff. Others leave development to nonprofit or governmental partners, focusing their own efforts on assembling parcels of land and preserving the affordability of the structures upon it.

Flexible Development

The CLT is a community development tool of uncommon flexibility, easily accommodating a variety of land uses, a range of income groups, and a diversity of building tenures and types, either scattered throughout a CLT’s holdings or integrated within the same mixed-use, mixed income projects. CLTs around the country construct (or acquire, rehabilitate, and resell) housing of many kinds: single-family homes, duplexes, condos, co-ops, SROs, multi-unit apartment buildings, and mobile home parks. CLTs create facilities for neighborhood businesses, nonprofit organizations, and social service agencies. CLTs provide sites for community gardens and vest pocket parks. Land is the common ingredient, linking them all. The CLT is the social thread, connecting them all.