Established in Burlington, Vermont in 1984, the Champlain Housing Trust (CHT) was an early pioneer of the community land trust approach of providing affordable housing in perpetuity. CHT’s homes are, on average, affordable to households earning only 57 per cent of the area’s median income and it has over 2,200 properties for low-cost home ownership and rental.
CHT’s pioneering work on the community land trust model provides a wide range of affordable housing for both rent and home ownership. In particular it seeks to:
assure security of tenure to low and moderate income households through the collective control of land
protect vulnerable renters in gentrifying neighbourhoods
preserve access to home ownership for citizens of modest means
bring diverse elements of the community together
Over 200 community land trusts have now been established throughout the United States.
