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Community Land Trusts in Our Backyards: A Key to Homeownership for Working Families

Kathleen Hosfeld (Homestead Community Land Trust) and Diane Linn (Proud Ground) provide a primer on a housing model that breaks barriers to permanently affordable homeownership.

Diane Linn of Proud Ground and Kathleen Hosfeld of Homestead Community Land Trust talk about community land trusts and how they increase access to stable affordable housing (screenshot from video of session).
Diane Linn of Proud Ground and Kathleen Hosfeld of Homestead Community Land Trust talk about community land trusts and how they increase access to stable affordable housing (screenshot from video of session).

Sightline Editor

April 12, 2022

This article is part of the series YIMBYtown 2022

The conversation shared below was part of the YIMBYtown 2022 conference, cohosted by Sightline Institute and Portland: Neighbors Welcome.*

What role does the establishment of community land trusts (CLTs) play in the movement for more abundant housing? How can CLTs provide homes for folks not served by traditional market-rate housing, and how do they help stabilize a community undergoing gentrification and displacement? 

Diane Linn, executive director of Proud Ground, and Kathleen Hosfeld, executive director of Homestead Community Land Trust, explain how CLTs work and how advocacy for housing abundance and advocacy for CLTs go hand in hand. They walk through their respective organizations’ work to achieve their common goal of permanently affordable homes for working families or households, with an eye on environmental sustainability, racial equity, and anti-racist, anti-oppression, and anti-displacement policies. 

Related: 

*YIMBYtown 2022 occurred April 11–13 in Portland, Oregon, the fourth annual gathering (after some COVID delays) of “Yes in My Back Yard” (YIMBY) community leaders, organizers, planners, policymakers, educators, and housing providers eager to share resources and strategies for building more affordable, sustainable, and equitable communities.

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Sightline Editor

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Sightline Editor

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