Who We Are
The Los Angeles Community Land Trust Coalition is an association that convenes movement-driven, BIPOC led, values-aligned Community Land Trusts based in Los Angeles County to advance community ownership and self-determination through shared functions including joint resource development, communications, policy development, program implementation, and collective action.
The Coalition’s purpose is to:
- Expand the number of BIPOC-led, values-aligned community land trusts in LA County;
- Expand the portfolio of land, housing, and other land-based assets held by each CLT;
- Expand the organizational and operational capacity of each CLT;
- Develop leaders among the residents of the neighborhoods served by each CLT and within the housing stewarded by each CLT; and
- Further policies to advance decommodification of housing.
Our Coalition Members
History
The Los Angeles Community Land Trust Coalition came together in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with founding members the Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, T.R.U.S.T. South LA, Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre, El Sereno Community Land Trust, and Liberty Community Land Trust. After years of close learning and collaboration, the founding members realized the crucial need to band together and create regional infrastructure to push policy, pursue funding, and provide space for continued technical assistance and capacity building.
The Coalition quickly got to work and with the leadership of Supervisor Hilda Solis successfully secured $14 million for the LA County CLT Partnership Pilot Program in their first year of existence. Through this keystone pilot program, the Coalition would acquire 8 buildings bringing 43 families into community ownership and protecting them from being displaced.
Building upon this win, the Coalition launched TOPA4LA to win a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act for unincorporated areas within LA County and give tenants the opportunity to band together and purchase their rental home if the building owner decides to sell. The Coalition also flexed their strength to win Measure ULA in 2022 and Measure A in 2024 establishing permanent sources of funding for addition CLT formation and affordable housing preservation within the City and County of Los Angeles, respectively.
Since coming together, the Coalition has grown to 7 members having helped incubate Housing For All Long Beach and the Los Angeles Chinatown Community Land Trust thus ensuring that BIPOC communities all across the LA Basin are firmly seated at the decision-making table.
Our Values
Just Recovery
We believe that we can address structural injustices – including racial injustices – by creating a regenerative, non-extractive land and housing ownership model that reflects a culture of communal support and care.
Decommodify Land and Housing
We are committed to decommodifying land and housing for poor and working class BIPOC communities to have access to communal ownership. We seek to deprivatize housing through a just transition framework, and to promote collective and democratic ownership, in order to make our communities thrive and to advance housing as a human right.
Collective Land Stewardship
We invest in deep democratic, grassroots governance that prioritizes those most harmed by structural injustices in the care of land resources. We hope to move closer to the de commodification of land through these collective efforts.
Building Community and Base
We share a belief that base-building grows community leadership, and that setting up residents for success is essential to CLT sustainability and our standing in the community. We hold that a core goal of CLT structure is to build the capacity of BIPOC residents. Our organizations are community led, and we are part of a broader ecology of building a justice movement.
Relationships at the Center
We are committed to transparency, open communication, and accountability that is grounded in mutual respect and understanding. This includes teaching and training, learning from each other, continued support with racial equity in mind, and addressing conflict and harm to heal collectively.
Collective Decision-Making
We are committed to collective decision-making while honoring the sovereignty of Individual CLTs. We seek to ensure that every CLT is heard, that the Coalition receives different perspectives, and that we talk through our different opinions and needs. Open communication about our needs, interests, and capacities allows for flexible, emergent, and innovative solutions and decisions.
THANK YOU to Our Funders
- Bold Vision
- California Community Foundation
- Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
- Liberty Hill Foundation
- LISC-Los Angeles
- Strong, Prosperous, and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC)
- The California Endowment
- The James Irvine Foundation
- Weingart Foundation