Community Land Trusts Implementation in North St. Louis in collaboration with Old North St. Louis Restoration Group

Challenges of inner city neighborhoods for CDCs ❖ Role of representing the community in terms of development ❖ Which members to represent ❖ Economic growth often shuts out certain people (gentrification)

Previous attempts to balance needs of present neighborhood with the goals of St. Louis City (economic development, increased tax base)

Which neighborhoods ❖ Lasalle Park - sponsored by philanthropic corporation ❖ Murphy/Cass - Tenant Management Associations ❖ Wash U and SLU development around medical schools - large institutional sponsor ❖ Forest Park Southeast/Tower Grove- development companies associate w/non- profits

Perspectives on development ❖ New “model town” view ❖ Control by outsiders ❖ Diversity discouraged ❖ Housing must be beautiful and expensive to ensure “luxury” prices ❖ Upper middle class working people only ❖ Ex. Pullman Company Towns ❖ “Urban Village” view ❖ Control by insiders ❖ Diversity embraced ❖ Housing may or may not be beautiful but it is affordable ❖ Interest in community programs and services ❖ Mixed income residents ❖ Ex. Dudley Neighborhood in Boston

“Give a persona fish and he eats for a day. Teach a person to fish and he eats for a lifetime. That's a lie! The real issue is: Who owns the pond?”... “Give a person a fish” equals charity. “Teach a person to fish,” emphasizes job skills. But if the one fishing does not own the pond, she can be denied the right to fish in the pond.

Encouraging “Urban Village” development ❖ Important to ensure affordable housing in neighborhood and ensure diverse community involvement: ❖ Tax credits (subsidized housing)/Mixed Income Housing ❖ Hope VI ❖ Public Housing ❖ Co-ops ❖ Community Land Trusts

Why community land trusts? ❖ Increase supply of permanently affordable housing ❖ Increase real estate equity savings among residents ❖ Encourage developers to participate in affordable housing

Why community land trusts? ❖ Returns abandoned real estate and vacant land to tax rolls ❖ Enhances and collaborates community development programs ❖ Facilitates partnerships between residents, businesses, non-profits and area developers

Why community land trusts? ❖ A win-win situation for all stakeholders ❖ Creates incentive for people to stay in community, not flip or leave them behind ❖ Sense of belonging ❖ Political force

Communities like ours which have done it

Camden, NJ ❖ Started through affordable housing activists during a power fight with the City ❖ Used co-op method in order to retain long-term control of land by co-op ❖ Bought property where knew speculators would try to buy ❖ Ensured less looting of construction sites by hiring local workforce

Boston, MA - Dudley ❖ Gained large amount of properties through eminent domain along with City granting properties to CLT ❖ Used Community Land Trust as their mechanism ❖ 150 homes in CLT

Holyoke, MA ❖ CDC formed b/c city plan to industrialize residential area to protect residents against absentee landlords ❖ Represents a “resettlement” model of a CLT, rather than a “displacement” model

Community Steps toward a CLT

❖ Community survey on land control ❖ Community meetings explaining CLT concept ❖ Form working groups ❖ Elect members to committees ❖ Committee elects board

Community Steps toward a CLT ❖ Alternative would be to just create an advisory board within ONSL ❖ ONSL board, seeing that there is obvious community interest, will meet to determine whether ONSL will split organization or carry a 2nd 501(c)(3) ❖ Land trust agreement discussed by board meetings and signed

Community Steps toward a CLT ❖ Board meeting discussion of articles of non profit incorporation and eventual filing with state ❖ Raise money and acquire property ❖ Work for “perpetually affordable housing programs on a state level”

Legal steps toward a CLT

❖ ONSL board, seeing that there is obvious community interest, will meet to determine whether ONSL will split organization or carry a 2nd 501(c)(3) ❖ 501 (c)(3) set up using community input ❖ Land trust agreement discussed by board meetings and signed ❖ Determine how property will be provided to residents ❖ Determine particulars of ground lease including how resale price agreements would work