What is a Community Land Trust?
什麼是CLT？
Community Land Trusts (CLT) keep housing affordable by "separating" the ownership of the home from ownership of the underlying property or land. CLTs also use various mechanisms—for example: ground leases, deed restrictions, long-term resale restrictions, CLT’s first right to repurchase, and formulas to limit resale prices—to ensure that low- and moderate-income families can own apartments as limited equity cooperative shareholders at a lower-than-market price. With a mix of these tools, a home can stay affordable, resale after resale, at a below-market price for the next qualified-income homebuyer.
For Small Property Owners. By combining the CLT model with more traditional concepts like a condo or co-op conversion, some Chinatown small property owners may be able find relief from their tax and regulatory burdens of managing multifamily rental housing, while keeping their roots in the community. For example, it may make sense for a landlord to keep their revenue-generating storefronts as a commercial condo, while sponsoring the conversion of upstairs residential units into a housing cooperative, for sale to existing tenants.
For Tenants. CLTs help low- and moderate-income families bridge the gap between renting and home ownership. Shared-equity home ownership allows families to increase savings and assets, improve financial management, and eventually become more economically independent. By increasing cooperative homeownership, CLTs can also bring more resources and investment to maintain old housing stock, meet updated building code regulations, and ensure resident safety.
The Growing CLT Movement
CLTs have a long history across the U.S., from 1969 when New Communities Inc., was founded out of the Civil Rights movement as the first CLT in Georgia, to 1991 when Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association was founded in the Lower East Side. Today, Cooper Square includes about 400 apartments and 20 small businesses in its storefronts. Most recently, in June 2019, the City Council passed in the City budget $750,000 to fund the New York City Community Land Initiative, a group of nonprofits co-directed by New Economy Project to promote CLT projects in neighborhoods across the City. The Chinatown CLT is excited to be part of this movement to learn and adapt the CLT models to our realities in the neighborhood.
Community Land Trusts(簡稱:CLT)通過將土地與房屋「分離」，來區分房屋和土地的不同權益。CLT並利用各種機制，例如土地租賃(ground leases)、契約限制(deed restrictions)，長期轉售限制(long-term resale restrictions)、優先購買權(first right to repurchase)、並使用公式確定房屋的轉售價格等，使到中低收入家庭也能夠以低於市場價格購入公寓，成為有限淨值合作公寓大樓的股東。通過使用上述工具，即使將來轉售，新購屋者也必須符合一定的收入限制，藉此確保房屋價格可以永久保持在可負擔範圍之內。
如何幫助小業主？
通過將CLT概念與共有公寓或合作公寓轉換(conversion)等傳統的房屋模式結合，部份華埠的小業主或許能夠減輕地稅負擔及公寓樓宇的監管，但同時仍然能夠保持他們繼續在社區扎根的願望。例如，對於房東而言，他們可以選擇保留作為商業之用的地面店鋪，但將樓上的住宅轉換成為合作公寓，並出售給現有租戶。
如何幫助租客？
CLT為中低收入家庭在租屋和自置居所之間搭建橋樑，通過有限淨值的自置公寓幫助他們能夠增加儲蓄和資產，改善財務管理，並最終變得更加經濟獨立自足。隨著合作公寓所有權的上升，CLT也能帶來更多資源維護老舊的住房，以滿足樓宇法規和確保租戶的安全。
正在蓬勃發展的CLT運動
CLT在美國歷史悠久，1969年佐治亞州在民權運動期間成立全美首個名為New Communities Inc.的CLT；而就在1991年，毗連華埠的下東城也成立了「庫珀廣場互助住房協會」（Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association）。庫珀廣場互助住房協會極為成功，今時今日，已提供400套有限淨值公寓和20店個鋪給商家使用。而於在2019年6月，在非營利組織「紐約市新經濟計劃」（New Economic Project）的推動下，紐約市議會撥出75萬元經費，以資助全紐約市多個社區組織在各個地區研究與推廣CLT。華埠CLT很榮幸也成為其中一員。