International Center for Community Land Trusts

Habitat for Humanity-CLT Partnerships for Lasting Affordability
2025-07-01 14:00 - 15:15 UTC
Webinar Description

What does it take to create housing that remains affordable across generations? Join the International Center for CLTs, Habitat for Humanity, and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy for a dynamic conversation on the power of community land trusts (CLTs) as a tool to deliver lasting affordability through long-term stewardship. This webinar walks through the history of the CLT movement in the US, examine the current landscape of affordable housing preservation, and spotlight a new policy report on forming strong and equitable CLT partnerships.

Panelists offer practical insights into how CLTs function as stewards—protecting affordability at resale, supporting homeowners over time, and preserving the physical integrity of homes so they can serve multiple generations of families. With a long-standing history of collaboration, CLTs and Habitat for Humanity affiliates are natural partners in this work. Participants learn how CLT-Habitat partnerships have been successfully formed and scaled and what it truly takes—on the ground and behind the scenes—for communities to take collective control of land and housing.

Whether you’re a housing advocate, policymaker, staff/board member of Habitat for Humanity affiliates and CLTs, or a curious citizen, this session will provide both inspiration and grounded strategy for ensuring that affordability endures beyond a single sale, beyond a single homeowner—for generations to come.

Speakers and Panelists

John Emmeus Davis, Founding Board Member, International Center for Community Land Trusts; Editor-in-Chief, Terra Nostra Press

JOHN EMMEUS DAVIS is a co-founder of Burlington Associates in Community Development, a national consulting cooperative. John was on the staff of the Institute for Community Economics from 1981 to 1985 and later served for ten years as the housing director for the City of Burlington, Vermont. He co-authored the federal definition of a CLT that was enacted into US law in 1992.

Assan Sosseh, Lasting Affordability Program Manager, Habitat for Humanity International

ASSAN SOSSEH is a seasoned affordable housing professional currently serving as the Lasting Affordability Program Manager at Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI). In this role, he leads initiatives aimed at increasing the adoption of lasting affordability homeownership models within the Habitat network. These models include strategies such as community land trusts, ground leases, and long-term deed restrictions, all designed to ensure that homes remain affordable for future generations.

Derby Swanson, Director of Homeowner and Community Services, Habitat for Humanity of Frederick County

DERBY A SWANSON has a diverse professional background with extensive experience in community services, market research, and project management. Currently serving as the Director of Homeowner and Community Services at Habitat for Humanity of Frederick County since September 2022, Derby previously held roles such as Community Impact Manager and Worship Administrator at Trinity Church in the City of Boston. Derby A. Swanson operated an independent consulting practice focused on research methodologies from 2011 to June 2016 and has also held significant positions at Sentient Decision Science, Applied Marketing Science, and the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, contributing to various strategic and management initiatives. Academic qualifications include an MBA in Market Research from the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, a Master of Divinity in Theology from Andover Newton Theological School, and a Bachelor of Science in Theatre from Northwestern University.

Matina Kauffman, Vice President of Homeownership and Neighborhood Programs, Habitat for Humanity Portland Region

MATINA KAUFFMAN is the Vice President of Homeownership and Neighborhood Programs with Habitat for Humanity Portland Region. She has been with the affiliate for 18 years and was instrumental in their transition to permanent affordability through a partnership with the local community land trust, Proud Ground. She has been a strong supporter of expanding shared equity models across the Habitat network and sharing best practices. She helped develop a resource center on lasting affordability for affiliates through a Fellowship with Habitat for Humanity for Humanity International.

Megan McDonough, Executive Director, Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity

MEGAN MCDONOUGH has been the Executive Director of Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity since 2014. Megan has been working with Habitat to refine the model of small, ecological, homeownership – asking the question, what’s “big enough” to contain the dream of homeownership? Prior to her work with Habitat Megan spent 7 years at the Center for Ecotechnology providing support for green building certification programs like LEED for Homes and ENERGY STAR Homes. She has a master’s degree in regional planning from UMass Amherst and lives with her family in a near zero net energy home in the western Mass hilltowns.

Devika Goetschius, Executive Director, Housing Land Trust of the North Bay

DEVIKA “DEV” GOETSCHIUS is a nationally recognized leader in community land trusts and permanently affordable homeownership, with over two decades of experience in equitable housing development. As Executive Director of the Housing Land Trust of Sonoma County and a partner at Burlington Associates in Community Development, Dev has helped launch and support dozens of shared equity housing programs across the US. She also serves on the boards of Generation Housing and International Center for Community Land Trusts, and is a trusted advisor to local governments, nonprofits, and Habitat for Humanity affiliates. Fluent in Spanish, Hindi, and Sindhi, Dev brings a community-centered, multilingual approach to her work, grounded in a commitment to long-term affordability and housing justice.

CLTs as a Step Towards Decolonizing Our Relationships to Land
2025-11-25 13:30 - 15:00
Recordings

English Recording

Grabación en español

Webinar Resources

Slideshow presentation from Autumn Ness, Lahaina CLT

Slideshow presentation from Norm Leech, Downtown Eastside CLT

Slideshow presentation from Corrina Gould, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust

ENGLISH Transcript

Webinar Description

For thousands of years before the invasion and colonization of the Americas, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands, Indigenous peoples across these regions lived in deep relationships with the land, understanding it as sacred and shared. The imposition of private ownership, capitalism, and extractivism over the past five centuries has profoundly disrupted that relationship, disconnecting communities from the land and environment.

This webinar brought together representatives of Indigenous-led CLTs in the US and Canada to share how CLTs can serve as a step towards decolonizing our collective relationship to land, returning sacred land to Indigenous stewardship and resisting disaster capitalism.

Speakers and Panelists

Autumn Ness, Executive Director, Lahaina CLT (Hawai’i, US)

AUTUMN NESS serves as LCLT’s Executive Director, accountable to the past and future generations of Lahaina, nurturing the long-term vision of a community-owned land base that redefines homeownership and economic systems outside of extractive capitalism and more in accordance with ‘ike Hawai’i (the values and wisdom of this place). She has intimate experience with post-disaster displacement, and its permanent effects on environment and culture, after being displaced after the Japan tsunami and nuclear meltdown. As a settler on Maui since then, she has worked on land, water and agriculture justice issues from a systems change lens, working arm in arm with community to take those systems back in ways that build local power and collective well being. She previously served as Senior Affordable Housing Policy Advisor for Council Member Johnson, chair of Affordable Housing. They worked with Maui County Council to implement a progressive package of affordable housing bills that include the strongest anti-displacement policies in Hawaiʻi, and increased funding mechanisms for infrastructure and affordable housing. She is also the founder of the Maui Food Hub, a response to COVID that has now become vital and permanent farm-to-consumer infrastructure.

Corrina Gould, Co-Director, Sogorea Te’ Land Trust (California, US)

CORRINA GOULD (Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation) was born and raised in the village of Huichin, now known as Oakland, CA. She is the Co-Founder and Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a small Native run organization and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led organization within her ancestral territory. Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization, and land restoration, the Land Trust calls on Native and non-Native peoples to heal and transform legacies of colonization, genocide, and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do.

Norm Leech, President, Downtown Eastside CLT (Vancouver, Canada)

NORM LEECH is the President of the Downtown Eastside CLT (DTES CLT). DTES CLT is moving toward a more Indigenous relationship with land that is sustainable, responsible, and healing. This can help preserve affordable housing by sheltering property from the global market that is increasing housing costs around the globe.

Norm speaks widely on inter-generational trauma due to colonization. He grew up in East Vancouver, with ancestry in the T’it’q’et community of the St’at’imc nation where he has served as Chief and also Administrator. He draws on his experiences as a recovering alcoholic/ addict, inter-generational survivor, and spiritual explorer to inform his current work which includes several boards and committees.

Amber Khan, Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Washington

AMBER KHAN, PhD, MPH is an applied interdisciplinary disaster scholar focused on community-led solutions to the climate crisis, centering on community-led land use and policy, affordable housing, and preventing displacement and gentrification. In her current role as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington, she leads an international study with the International Center for CLTs on the application of CLTs in building climate and disaster resilience. In her role as a participatory action research fellow at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), she designs and conducts research on climate displacement, migration, and resettlement with Indigenous-led organizations.

Scaling Housing Supply through Habitat for Humanity-CLT Partnerships
2025-12-10 15:00 - 16:30
Recording

Resources

Slideshow presentation

Full transcript

Webinar Description

The second webinar in the Lasting Affordability Webinar Series by Habitat for Humanity International will explore strategies for building strong, sustainable partnerships with Community Land Trusts (CLTs) to advance lasting affordability and housing preservation.

Drawing on lessons from Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity’s collaborations with Homes Within Reach, other CLT partners, and the broader coalition building work with the Minnesota Statewide CLT Coalition, this webinar examines key challenges: such as funding-driven participation, buyback limitations, the evolution of resale formula, and highlights successful approaches for scaling CLTs at a state level. Speakers from the Minnesota CLT Coalition, Homes Within Reach, and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity shared insights on partnerships with CLTs and Habitat affiliates, policy influence, and their coalition-building work.

Designed for Habitat affiliates, CLT partners, statewide coalitions, housing advocates, and policymakers, participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how to engage CLTs, navigate funding ecosystems, and foster partnerships rooted in trust, flexibility, and long-term community impact.

Speakers and Panelists

Assan Sosseh, Lasting Affordability Program Manager, Habitat for Humanity International

ASSAN SOSSEH is a seasoned affordable housing professional currently serving as the Lasting Affordability Program Manager at Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI). In this role, he leads initiatives aimed at increasing the adoption of lasting affordability homeownership models within the Habitat network. These models include strategies such as community land trusts, ground leases, and long-term deed restrictions, all designed to ensure that homes remain affordable for future generations.

Ben Post, VP, Strategy and Impact, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity

BEN POST joined Twin Cities Habitat in 2018. Ben leads the Strategy team which is responsible for managing the organization’s strategic plan. Ben’s team also implements new, strategic initiatives designed to improve and increase Twin Cities Habitat’s impact. Ben earned his Bachelor’s degree from Bethel University and has worked in affordable housing for more than 20 years. His experience includes multi-family rental, ownership, lasting affordability and shared equity models, program delivery, and management.

Brenda Lano-Wolke, Executive Director, Homes Within Reach

BRENDA LANO-WOLKE is the Executive Director for Homes Within Reach.

Jeff Washbourne, Administrator, Minnesota Community Land Trust Coalition

JEFF WASHBOURNE is a Partner with Burlington Associates and is working with or has worked with over 50 community land trusts nationally. He transitioned away from the City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CLCLT) in 2023 after serving as the Director since its incorporation in November of 2002. Over the 20+ year tenure with the CLCLT the organization was able to assist over 490 low-income homeowners into the Community Land Trust homeownership with over 375 homes in trust. Through his tenure, the CLCLT grew to become the largest ownership Community Land Trust in MN and the 3rd largest nationally, creatively using the Community Land Trust in many groundbreaking ways. Over time, the CLCLT created and spun off a Commercial Land Trust, an Agricultural Land Trust and is currently working with partner organizations to establish the first African American Community Land Trust in the Twin Cities.

Prior to joining the CLCLT, he worked at Twin Cities Neighborhood Housing Services from 1997 – 2000 and 2001 – 2002, serving as the Executive Director the latter two years. Prior to his nonprofit housing experience, Jeff worked as a construction supervisor/trainer for a residential construction firm in South Korea, a YMCA Program Manager in New Mexico, and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras. He holds an M.A. in Public Administration from Hamline University and a B.A. in Psychology from DePauw University. He’s gained certificates from the Harvard Kennedy School/NeighborWorks America Achieving Excellence and the Bank of America Neighborhood Builder Leadership Programs. Over the past 25 years in Minneapolis, he has served on dozens of nonprofit boards in the community. He has lived in Minneapolis since 1997.

For work in Minnesota where Jeff had pre-existing relationships, he utilizes his own consulting LLC, Everlong Consulting. In this capacity he serves as the contract administrator for the MN CLT Coalition, supporting the 14 community land trusts in Minnesota with advocacy, policy, technical assistance, fundraising, and coalition building.

John Emmeus Davis, Board Member, Editor-in-Chief, International Center for CLTs; Terra Nostra Press

JOHN EMMEUS DAVIS is a city planner who has spent much of his 40-year career providing technical assistance to CLTs and documenting their history and performance. He coauthored the Lincoln Institute’s 2008 publication The City-CLT Partnership. He previously served as housing director in Burlington, Vermont, and was dean of the National CLT Academy. He is a partner at Burlington Associates in Community Development LLC, a national consulting cooperative. He is a founding board member of the International Center for CLTs and editor in chief of the center’s imprint, Terra Nostra Press.

Inclusionary Housing and the Role of CLTs: Cross-Regional Perspectives on Land Policy and Long-Term Affordability
2026-02-03 11:00 - 12:30
Recording

Resources

Slides from Jean-Marie Halleux

Slides from Rick Jacobus

Slides from Dev Goetschius

Slides from Jean-Baptiste Debrandt

Webinar Description

As cities around the world face deepening housing affordability crises, inclusionary housing policies are increasingly used to expand access to affordable homes. Yet key questions remain: how are these homes stewarded over time, and how can affordability be protected beyond initial regulatory periods?

This international webinar co-hosted by the European CLT Network and the International Center for CLTs explores how inclusionary housing (or inclusionary zoning) policies can be paired with CLTs to secure lasting affordability, strengthen long-term stewardship, promote social cohesion, and expand access to stable, community-controlled housing. Inclusionary housing policies take many forms—some require developers to include a percentage of affordable homes in new projects, while others offer incentives such as density bonuses or fee reductions to encourage voluntary participation.

Drawing on experiences from both the United States and Europe, the session examines how CLTs can serve as long-term stewards of homes created through inclusionary housing programs—and why this partnership is critical for preserving affordability across generations. Speakers discuss key challenges and opportunities, including administrative complexity, lessons learned from US inclusionary zoning practice, and the potential for adapting these tools within European policy frameworks.

Moderated by Eduard Cabré (Spain), speakers include:

Dev Goetschius, Housing Land Trust of the North Bay, Executive Director (USA)

Jean-Baptiste Debrandt, City of Lille, Head of the Housing Department (France)

Jean-Marie Halleux, University of Liège (Belgium)

Rick Jacobus, Street Level Advisors, Principal (USA)

Designed for CLT practitioners, policymakers, housing advocates, and municipal officials, participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how inclusionary housing policies work, what makes them effective, and how CLTs can partner with public authorities to steward units, embed equity, and ensure long-term community benefit. The webinar will be conducted in English, with French and Spanish subtitles added to the recording when it is published on YouTube.

Support this work

The CLT Center convenes practitioners, researchers, and communities from different regions to share experiences and strengthen the CLT movement globally. This event is free and open to all. If you’re in a position to support our work, your contribution helps us continue offering free events, resources, and peer exchange opportunities across contexts.

Support Our Work

Moderator and Speakers

Eduard Cabré, Housing Policy Consultant (Spain)

EDUARD CABRÉ works as a housing policy consultant for local governments and non-profit organizations. He currently advises the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Housing and Renovation on European and innovation projects, and regularly collaborates with the Provincial Council of Barcelona, the Provincial Council of Girona, and city councils throughout Catalonia.

He holds a degree in Political Science from Pompeu Fabra University, a Master’s degree in Urban Management and Valuation from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from New York University.

Jean-Baptiste Debrandt, City of Lille, Head of the Housing Department (France)

JEAN-BAPTISTE DEBRANDT is an official for the City of Lille, holding the position of Head of the Department of Housing. He is involved in European projects related to sustainable development.

Dev Goetschius, Housing Land Trust of the North Bay, Executive Director (USA)

DEVIKA “DEV” GOETSCHIUS is a nationally recognized leader in community land trusts and permanently affordable homeownership, with over two decades of experience in equitable housing development. As Executive Director of the Housing Land Trust of Sonoma County and a partner at Burlington Associates in Community Development, Dev has helped launch and support dozens of shared equity housing programs across the US. She also serves on the boards of Generation Housing and International Center for Community Land Trusts, and is a trusted advisor to local governments, nonprofits, and Habitat for Humanity affiliates. Fluent in Spanish, Hindi, and Sindhi, Dev brings a community-centered, multilingual approach to her work, grounded in a commitment to long-term affordability and housing justice.

Jean-Marie Halleux, University of Liège, Professor (Belgium)

JEAN-MARIE HALLEUX is a professor at the University of Liège (Belgium), where he teaches economic geography and spatial planning. His research focuses on the relationships between geography, urban economics, and spatial planning. He has been involved in several European research programmes (Interreg, COST, PUCA, JPI Urban Europe), through which he has developed expertise in the international comparison of land policies and planning systems. His comparative research focuses on planning cultures, soft densification, land sobriety (no net land take), land value capture, and the impact of industrial land on economic development. In 2022, he was one of the editors of the book Public Value Capture of Increasing Property Values across Europe, which provides an overview and discussion of land value capture instruments and practices in 29 countries.

Rick Jacobus, Street Level Urban Impact Advisors, Prinicipal (USA)

RICK JACOBUS is one of the nation’s leading experts in inclusionary housing and affordable homeownership.

Rick is the author of Inclusionary Housing: Creating and Maintaining Equitable Communities, which has been called the ‘go to’ guide to inclusionary housing policy design. Rick worked directly with the City Councils of Denver, Seattle and San Jose to guide the redesign of each city’s inclusionary housing program. In addition, he has consulted on the design and implementation of inclusionary housing programs with more than a dozen cities including New York, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Palo Alto, Chicago and Atlanta.

He has also served as a Fellow at the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, a lecturer in the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley and as a Senior Program Officer for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

He has a Bachelors degree from Oberlin College and a Masters of City Planning degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Our Land, Our Survival: Communities Mobilizing Against Land Grabbing and Dispossession
2026-03-26 12:00 - 13:30
REGISTER HERE

Webinar Description

Across the globe, communities are confronting intensifying pressures, from climate disasters and speculative development to militarization and extractive investment, that threaten collective land, self-determination, and survival. In this context, alternative land tenure systems are not only policy tools, but acts of resistance.

The International Center for Community Land Trusts invites you to a conversation centered around Our Land, Our Survival, by Dr Line Algoed and published by Terra Nostra Press. Drawing on cases from Barbuda and Puerto Rico after the 2017 hurricanes, the book shows how communal land systems become powerful tools to resist land grabbing, community displacement, and disaster capitalism.

We are especially honored to welcome Leilani Farha, Global Director of The Shift and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, who will open the session with remarks on land as resistance in the face of the global land rush. Her presentation will frame the broader discussion on housing, land, and human rights.

Moderated by Amber Khan (University of Washington, US), the webinar will feature perspectives from:

Line Algoed, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Postdoctoral Researcher (Belgium)

Jackie Frank, Barbuda Land Rights and Resources Committee (Barbuda)

Mariolga Juliá Pacheco, Caño Martín Peña CLT, Director of the Office of Participation Citizenship and Social Development; Community leader, (Puerto Rico)

Together, the speakers will explore how communities are implementing alternative land tenure systems to push back against dispossession and defend land as more than property. The webinar will be conducted with simultaneous interpretation in English and Spanish, with multilingual subtitles added to the recording when it is published on YouTube.

Support this work

The CLT Center convenes practitioners, researchers, and communities from different regions to share experiences and strengthen the CLT movement globally. This event is free and open to all. If you’re in a position to support our work, your contribution helps us continue offering free events, resources, and peer exchange opportunities across contexts.

Support Our Work

Speakers

Line Algoed, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Postdoctoral Researcher (Belgium)

DR LINE ALGOED is a researcher and educator at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) whose work focuses on land governance, climate justice, and community-led resistance to displacement. Her research examines how communal and collective land systems function as tools of protection and self-determination in contexts marked by disaster, speculation, and extractive development.

Drawing on long-term engagement with communities in Puerto Rico and Barbuda, Dr Algoed explores how alternative land tenure systems can serve not only as mechanisms of housing provision, but as strategies of resistance against land grabbing, disaster capitalism, and colonial or imperial pressures. She works at the intersection of urban studies, political ecology, and human rights, with a particular interest in how land can be defended as a shared and living resource.

She is the author of Our Land, Our Survival, recently published by Terra Nostra Press, which documents community struggles to protect collective land in the wake of the 2017 hurricanes.

Leilani Farha, The Shift and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, Global Director (Canada)

LEILANI FARHA is the Global Director of The Shift, an international movement to secure the right to housing, and served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing from 2014 to 2020. A lawyer and global advocate, her work focuses on housing as a human right and on confronting the financialization of housing and land. During her UN mandate, Leilani investigated housing conditions across the world, examining how global capital, speculation, and extractive economic systems impact communities’ ability to remain in their homes. She has been a leading voice in reframing housing and land as social goods rather than commodities, calling for systemic reforms that center human rights, dignity, and community control.

Leilani is also the Executive Producer of the documentary Push, which highlights the global housing crisis and grassroots resistance movements. Through The Shift, she works with governments, cities, civil society organizations, and community leaders to advance rights-based housing policy and protect communities from displacement.

Jackie Frank, Barbuda Land Rights and Resources Committee (Barbuda)

JACKIE FRANK is a community leader and advocate from Barbuda dedicated to defending the island’s communal land system and advancing local self-determination. Following the devastation of Hurricane Irma in 2017, she became actively involved in efforts to protect Barbuda’s centuries-old system of collective land ownership from privatization and external development pressures.

As Barbuda has faced growing threats of land grabbing and large-scale speculative projects, Jackie has worked alongside community members to raise awareness of the importance of communal tenure as a foundation for cultural survival, economic resilience, and environmental stewardship. Her advocacy emphasizes land not as a commodity, but as a shared inheritance that sustains identity, livelihood, and collective rights. Through grassroots organizing and public engagement, she continues to support community-led resistance to displacement and to promote models of land governance rooted in accountability, participation, and long-term stewardship.

Amber Khan, University of Washington, Postdoctoral Scholar (US)

AMBER KHAN, PhD, MPH is an applied interdisciplinary disaster scholar focused on community-led solutions to the climate crisis, centering on community-led land use and policy, affordable housing, and preventing displacement and gentrification. In her current role as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington, she leads an international study with the International Center for CLTs on the application of CLTs in building climate and disaster resilience. In her role as a participatory action research fellow at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), she designs and conducts research on climate displacement, migration, and resettlement with Indigenous-led organizations.

Mariolga Juliá Pacheco, Caño Martín Peña CLT, Director of the Office of Participation Citizenship and Social Development; Community leader, (Puerto Rico)

MARIOLGA JULIÁ PACHECO is a community leader with the Caño Martín Peña CLT in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She has been deeply involved in the community’s decades-long struggle to secure collective land tenure as a foundation for environmental restoration, housing stability, and self-determination.

Emerging from a grassroots movement led by residents of the Caño Martín Peña district, the CLT was established to prevent displacement and protect affordability while advancing large-scale ecological rehabilitation of the Martín Peña channel. Mariolga has played an important role in community organizing, resident leadership development, and advocacy to defend the CLT model as a tool for both climate resilience and social justice.

Her work highlights how collective land ownership can serve as a powerful mechanism to resist land speculation, strengthen community governance, and ensure that long-term redevelopment benefits existing residents rather than displacing them. Through her leadership, she continues to advance land as a shared resource rooted in dignity, participation, and collective survival.
