Funding Support Builds Momentum for a Community Land Trust in Denver

A new community land trust has been launched by private foundations and nonprofits in Denver, seeding the initiative with $24 million in funding.

Jon Murray reports:

By forming the Elevation Community Land Trust and committing that money, its backers aim to create the largest community land trust in Colorado. Within five years, the new organization could assemble a collection of 700 homes scattered across the city and its suburbs — split between existing houses and new townhomes and condos…

Murray also explains how the community land trust model works:

It would do so by holding ownership of the land under each home in a nonprofit trust in perpetuity, leasing the land to the home’s owner for regular payments. Upon reselling the house, owners would pocket a portion, but not all, of any increase in the home’s value. Future buyers would face similar income qualifications.

Murray's coverage of the new community land trust includes a lot more detail about how it will work, in addition to the market realities the initiative will address. For more insight, see additional coverage on the new community land trust by Oscar Perry Abello.