Residents taking control: securing land rights through Community Land Trusts

The role of Community Land Trusts in securing land rights for residents will be discussed at a webinar hosted by World Habitat – as part of the CoHabitat Network – on Thursday 29 October 2020 at 1pm GMT.

Since their creation 50 years ago, Community Land Trusts (CLTs) have illustrated how communities can gain permanent access to land rights – enabling residents to take control over the development and improvement of the areas they live in, shield them from eviction and gentrification and provide truly affordable housing. This webinar will focus on both successful and emerging or potential CLTs in Puerto Rico, Brazil and Bangladesh.

Panellists will include:

• Mariolga Juliá Pacheco, Caño Martín Peña CLT, Puerto Rico – a World Habitat Award winner in 2015;
• Theresa Williamson, Favela CLT, Brazil;
• Khalid Hussain and Rabeya Rahman, Community-Led Development of the Urdu-Speaking Bihari Camps, Bangladesh ; and
• Line Algoed, Center for CLT Innovation and co-editor of On Common Ground: International Perspectives of Community Land Trusts.

Mariangela Veronesi, Programme Lead for Community-led Housing at World Habitat, said:

“Community Land Trusts are increasingly proving to be life-changing for many thousands of people – with the potential for millions more to no longer live in fear of eviction from their homes and communities. Joining to discuss their impact and their relevance to securing land rights will be the Caño Martín Peña CLT from Puerto Rico – a landmark project, grounded in citizen empowerment and community organisation. Its resilience was illustrated during the response to Hurricane Maria.

“It inspired another guest, the Favela CLT – which is working to address the risks of displacement that affect favelas across Brazil. We’ll also be joined by a project in Bangladesh, which has plans to advance a community-led process for securing land for the Bihari ethnic minority group – who have lived in urban camps as refugees since the 1970s. One option is for the community to form a Community Land Trust.”

The Securing land rights: Community Land Trusts in Informal Settlements webinar will take place on Thursday 29 October 2020 at 1pm GMT. You can register for the webinar here.