CLT Map and Directory

Community land trusts around the world

627 CLTs · 14 countries · last updated November 2024

How we decide which organizations to include

This global map + directory does not presume to be comprehensive or complete. In some cases, there are organizations describing themselves as a CLT and exhibiting key features of a CLT that we may have accidentally overlooked. That is because new CLTs are being formed every month and we have not yet heard of every one of them. We will add their information as soon as it becomes available. In other cases, there are organizations that have been intentionally omitted because they are still at an early stage of formation — not yet incorporated or not yet gaining ownership or control of any land. More specifically, there are four basic criteria we have used in deciding which organizations to include in our map + directory:

Incorporation

The organization is legally incorporated, either as an independent nonprofit, nongovernmental organization or permanently or temporarily established as a corporate subsidiary or internal program of another NGO, social housing provider, cooperative housing organization, or municipal corporation.

Identity

The organization self-identifies as being a community land trust — or it is organized and operated in a manner consistent with key features that are found in a majority of other CLTs around the world.

Property

The organization holds real property through outright ownership, lease, or some other means of site control or the organization has a project in the pipeline that has a high probability of bringing real property into the organization’s holdings in the near future.

Stewardship

The organization is committed to ownership for the common good, holding land and other real property in trust for people of modest means who, without the CLT, would not have affordable access to these valuable assets.

We have also included OFS (organismes de foncier solidaire) organizations from France. These solidarity land organizations facilitate affordable housing by purchasing land and separating its ownership from buildings through long-term ground leases to modest-income households. They can take a variety of forms — housing cooperatives, municipalities, regional governments, and social housing organizations.

Other CLT directories

We welcome responses from any visitors to the Center’s website who wish to suggest additions or corrections. We should say, too, that our CLT map + directory is not intended to replace those that have been put together by other national or international networks. The latter use somewhat different criteria in deciding which organizations to include, so their directories do not match ours in every respect. They are worth consulting, however, by anyone who is interested in learning more about the sheer number and diversity of organizations around the world that are doing community-led development on community-owned land. They can be found at: