Over the past 50+ years, the CLT movement has driven the establishment of more than 600 community land trusts worldwide. Below is an interactive map designed to connect and inspire individuals and communities engaged in the CLT movement as well as highlight the adaptability of the CLT model in diverse geo-political contexts. Through this resource, we aim to foster a sense of solidarity and shared purpose among CLTs worldwide.
This global map + directory does not presume to be comprehensive or complete. In some cases, there are organizations describing themselves as a CLT and exhibiting key features of a CLT that we may have accidentally overlooked. That is because new CLTs are being formed every month and we have not yet heard of every one of them. We will add their information as soon as it becomes available. In other cases, there are organizations that have been intentionally omitted because they are still at an early stage of formation — not yet incorporated or not yet gaining ownership or control of any land. More specifically, there are four basic criteria we have used in deciding which organizations to include in our map + directory:
- INCORPORATION: The organization is legally incorporated, either as an independent nonprofit, nongovernmental organization or permanently or temporarily established as a corporate subsidiary or internal program of another NGO, social housing provider, cooperative housing organization, or municipal corporation.
- IDENTITY: The organization self-identifies as being a community land trust — or it is organized and operated in a manner consistent with key features that are found in a majority of other CLTs around the world.
- PROPERTY: The organization holds real property through outright ownership, lease, or some other means of site control or the organization has a project in the pipeline that has a high probability of bringing real property into the organization’s holdings in the near future.
- STEWARDSHIP: The organization is committed to ownership for the common good, holding land and other real property in trust for people of modest means who, without the CLT, would not have affordable access to these valuable assets.
We have also included OFS (organismes de foncier solidaire) organizations from France. These solidarity land organizations facilitate affordable housing by purchasing land and separating its ownership from buildings through long-term ground leases to modest-income households. They can take a variety of forms — housing cooperatives, municipalities, regional governments, and social housing organizations.