Why Create (or Support) a CLT?

From Cultivating Sustainable Communities

Copyright information from Burlington Associates in Community Development, LLC

1. Stewardship: Preserving Scarce Resources

• Preserving affordability one generation after another.

• Preserving public subsidies, lands, and inclusionary units.

• Preserving the condition and design of publicly-funded amenities.

2. Mobility: Rebuilding the Housing Tenure Ladder

• Multiplying the choices that low-income people have when they seek to improve the type and tenure of their housing.

• Allowing low-income people to step up to homeownership in smaller steps.

3. Security: Backstopping Low-income households

• Supporting first-time homeowners after they purchase a home.

• Intervening to cure defaults and prevent foreclosures.

4. Stability: Supporting Development without Displacement

• Reinvesting in dilapidated areas without fueling gentrification.

• Enacting "smart growth" measures without imposing additional burdens on inner-city neighborhoods and vulnerable populations.

5. Flexibility: Adapting to Sites, Funds, & Folks

• Abandoning a one-size-fits-all approach to community development.

• Mixing uses of land and types of housing in scattered-site projects.

6. Frugality: Shifting Administrative Burdens and Costs

• Delegating responsibility for monitoring publicly-funded projects.

• Delegating responsibility for enforcing publicly-mandated controls.