Pathways to Tenant and Community Control: Financing Strategies for Community Land Trusts

The LISC Institute for Community Power and LISC Bay Area hosted a conversation with Filipino CDC, Oakland Community Land Trust, and San Francisco Community Land Trust for a conversation on how to build power and secure resources to expand tenant and community control of housing.

Overview

From the Bronx to the Bay Area, tenants are organizing to buy their buildings to fight displacement, preserve affordability, and improve housing quality, often in partnership with community land trusts (CLTs). Early this year, tenants at 285 Turk Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco made headlines with the San Francisco CLT when they closed on their 40-unit building after a powerful organizing campaign. More recently, the residents of 1534 29th Avenue in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland saw the results of more than two years of organizing when Oakland CLT closed an acquisition of their building. Both acquisitions received low-cost financing via LISC Bay Area and the Partnership for the Bay’s Future. In this webinar, panelists reflected on the role of CLTs in these acquisitions, and the tenant organizing and financing sources that made them possible. Panelists discussed the partnerships, local policies, loan terms, and private fundraising strategies that helped tenants win control of their housing.