scholarly journals The ‘community' in community land trusts: the role of community control in pursuing community land trust activism

Author(s):  
Jennifer Le

Housing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is increasingly unaffordable due to rising housing costs. Community land trusts (CLTs) have recently emerged as a tool for providing affordable housing in the GTHA. This paper investigated the form that CLTs should take to ensure its long-term success for providing affordable housing. Through an analysis of academic and grey literature, the element of community control was identified as being a critical success factor. This paper explored four CLTs operating in American and European contexts to understand whether and how community control was manifested and the resulting implications it had on the CLT and residents. The findings of the paper confirm the importance of community control in the long-term functioning of CLTs, and that community control can be manifested in various forms. Planners operating in the GTHA must therefore be mindful of ensuring that community control is expressed in CLTs. Keywords: Community land trust; affordable housing; community control; Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Le

Housing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is increasingly unaffordable due to rising housing costs. Community land trusts (CLTs) have recently emerged as a tool for providing affordable housing in the GTHA. This paper investigated the form that CLTs should take to ensure its long-term success for providing affordable housing. Through an analysis of academic and grey literature, the element of community control was identified as being a critical success factor. This paper explored four CLTs operating in American and European contexts to understand whether and how community control was manifested and the resulting implications it had on the CLT and residents. The findings of the paper confirm the importance of community control in the long-term functioning of CLTs, and that community control can be manifested in various forms. Planners operating in the GTHA must therefore be mindful of ensuring that community control is expressed in CLTs. Keywords: Community land trust; affordable housing; community control; Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Dow

The cost of affordable rental units in Calgary is amongst the highest in Canada, despite a rental vacancy rate that is 3 percent higher than the national average (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2017). Nearly 1 in 5 Calgary households are struggling to pay for shelter costs and as of 2016, more than 42,000 households were spending more than 50 percent of their incomes on shelter, putting this population at a greater risk of becoming homeless due to job loss or from some other unexpected financial hardship (City of Calgary, 2017). Counter to popular belief, economically depressed communities with weak rental and housing markets such as Calgary following the 2015 collapse of the oil and gas sector can be subject to a critical lack of affordable housing. A soft housing market cannot make up for an insufficient range of affordable and non-market housing options. In other cities facing similar challenges, especially those in the United States, the formation of Community Land Trusts has proven to be a viable solution for providing both affordable rental and affordable ownership opportunities for residents who are struggling to afford the cost of housing in their area. This paper explores whether the Community Land Trust model is an appropriate tool to augment Calgary’s limited supply of affordable housing and will end with five recommendations to encourage the adoption of the Community Land Trust model in Calgary. Key Words: affordable housing, affordable ownership, Calgary, community land trust, small-scale affordable development.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Dow

The cost of affordable rental units in Calgary is amongst the highest in Canada, despite a rental vacancy rate that is 3 percent higher than the national average (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2017). Nearly 1 in 5 Calgary households are struggling to pay for shelter costs and as of 2016, more than 42,000 households were spending more than 50 percent of their incomes on shelter, putting this population at a greater risk of becoming homeless due to job loss or from some other unexpected financial hardship (City of Calgary, 2017). Counter to popular belief, economically depressed communities with weak rental and housing markets such as Calgary following the 2015 collapse of the oil and gas sector can be subject to a critical lack of affordable housing. A soft housing market cannot make up for an insufficient range of affordable and non-market housing options. In other cities facing similar challenges, especially those in the United States, the formation of Community Land Trusts has proven to be a viable solution for providing both affordable rental and affordable ownership opportunities for residents who are struggling to afford the cost of housing in their area. This paper explores whether the Community Land Trust model is an appropriate tool to augment Calgary’s limited supply of affordable housing and will end with five recommendations to encourage the adoption of the Community Land Trust model in Calgary. Key Words: affordable housing, affordable ownership, Calgary, community land trust, small-scale affordable development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Hamilton ◽  
Diane Brown

Libraries are taking on new roles in a disaster and with that comes strategic responsibilities beyond traditional asset recovery activities. In the past, library disaster plans have emphasized recovery of materials. Here, the emphasis is on continuing business operations. Libraries have become the centers of communication for their communities in a crisis. This article will demonstrate the essential role of libraries before, during and after a disaster, both short term and long term and how to get a seat at the table with community planners by demonstrating the functions that are critical to recovery. A literature review and case study are used to develop these recommendations. A critical success factor is to use a disaster preparation methodology that includes a business continuity plan.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-9
Author(s):  
Roxanne Harms

Staff scheduling has historically been embedded within hospital operations, often defined by each new manager of a unit or program, and notably absent from the organization's practice and standards infrastructure and accountabilities of the executive team. Silvestro and Silvestro contend that “there is a need to recognize that hospital performance relies critically on the competence and effectiveness of roster planning activities, and that these activities are therefore of strategic importance.”1 This article highlights the importance of including staff scheduling — or workforce deployment — in health care organizations' long-term strategic solutions to cope with the deepening workforce shortage (which is likely to hit harder than ever as the economy begins to recover). Viewing workforce deployment as a key organizational competency is a critical success factor for health care in the next decade, and the Workforce Deployment Maturity Model© is discussed as a framework to enable organizations to measure their current capabilities, identify priorities and set goals for increasing organizational competency using a methodical and deliberate approach.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 459-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia R Williams

Community control is a concept used to identify and promote efforts at collective resource ownership as a response to heightened inequality and capital mobility. The term has been used widely in political and theoretical discourses since the 1960s, but there is no clear consensus on its definition or the practical possibilities of how it can be actualized, particularly in the contemporary era of neoliberal fiscal austerity. In this paper, a case study of Rondo Community Land Trust in Saint Paul, MN is used to theorize community control as an interaction between a place-based population and an institution with authority over a shared resource. The Rondo neighborhood’s history of displacement, impending threat of gentrification, and civic leadership inspired visions for a commercial land trust development by a neighborhood leader. Rondo Community Land Trust’s history as a neighborhood-based organization, its participatory board structure, and its need for organizational diversification, and relationships with funders and other nonprofit groups made it a receptive vehicle for the proposal. The resulting “community control” of the project development was a collaboration between Rondo Community Land Trust and a group of neighborhood property owners. Neighborhood residents favored their commercial land trust proposal over a developer-led proposal for the same lot. If the neighborhood residents had been more broadly mobilized, the level of community control may have been more participatory, but Rondo Community Land Trust’s capacity to initiate community organizing was limited, so the resulting community control was driven by key leaders in the neighborhood with the support of Rondo Community Land Trust.


Author(s):  
Renata Cristina do Nascimento Antão ◽  
Tarcyla Fidalgo Ribeiro

O Community Land Trust é um modelo estabelecido com vistas à proteção de permanência de comunidades vulneráveis. Ela surge nos Estados Unidos, na década de 1960, atrelada aos movimentos por direitos civis e à população residente em áreas rurais. Este artigo busca avaliar as potencialidades e os limites de sua aplicação no Brasil enquanto resistência e prática biopotente em um espaço urbano marcado por elevados percentuais de irregularidade e por uma grave situação de desigualdade socioespacial. Em um contexto que agrava após os megaeventos no início da segunda década do século XXI e com a ruptura democrática e o aprofundamento da lógica neoliberal nas cidades a partir de 2016, torna-se necessário e urgente o estabelecimento de novas práticas e formas de gestão da propriedade que desenhem possíveis subversões à lógica do Poder. Os Community Land Trusts são propostos aqui como forma de prática jurídica subversiva, seja a partir da defesa da necessidade de uma legislação própria sobre o tema, seja pela utilização dos instrumentos jurídicos já existentes de forma a basear a criação de um modelo proprietário emancipatório.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1609
Author(s):  
Kathryn N. Braddock ◽  
Joel T. Heinen

Land trusts are common and expanding mechanisms for conservation, although their impacts have been little-studied. The objective of this paper is to understand the perceptions and motivations of stakeholders of small-scale land trust conservation. We used 33 key informant interviews to learn the motivations and opinions of stakeholders regarding the Little Traverse Conservancy (LTC) of northern Michigan, USA. The interviews were coded for relevant themes and interpreted alongside a literature review. The highest reported motivation for stakeholder involvement with LTC was the protection of nature and scenic beauty. Economic and social factors were also considered motivators; however, were not the key facilitators for conservation action for LTC stakeholders. Interviews emphasized that relationship and partnership formations are critical for facilitating successful land conservation. We conclude that land trust organizations can captivate the long-term support and participation of stakeholders through the consideration of local dynamics and building upon existing community relationships.


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