Two New Community Land Trusts for Ventura County

"Two organizations have a new way for Ventura County residents to save money on housing: buying a home without purchasing the land underneath it," reports Erin Rode.

The Housing Trust Fund Ventura County is launching the Housing Land Trust Ventura County. The second land trust, called Homes for Generations of Ventura County, is the work of Matthew Fienup, executive director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at California Lutheran University, and Tim Gallagher, CEO of public relations company The 20/20 Network. 

As defined by Rode, community land trusts "are nonprofit organizations that aim to provide affordable housing in perpetuity by owning land and either leasing homes or renting affordable housing units on that land. Homeowners on community land trusts receive a long-term lease agreement, typically for 99 years."

Ventura County is not the first to recently explore for the first time the idea of community land trusts as a way of preserving affordable housing. Columbus recently considered its first community land trust. The first citywide community land trust was recently created in New York City. Land trusts are also gaining traction in communities as far-flung as Baltimore, Seattle, and cities all over Colorado.

For more on the information about community land trusts and how they work, see previous posts on Planetizen:

• Explained: the Power and Potential of Community Land Trusts (July 2015)
• Explained: Community Land Trusts (January 2018)