News

Tasman Ecovillage is committed to providing affordable housing, now and for future generations. To this end, we have included the possibility for a Community Land Trust (CLT) in our Vision for the village.

The vision came a little closer to reality when we were recently invited to partner with a research team led by Dr Louise Crabtree at the University of Western Sydney (UWS). We will be one of four Case Studies for the “Community Land Trust Research Project – Phase 2”

A community land trust is a not-for-profit entity that holds title to property in perpetuity, for the dual purposes of creating and stewarding perpetually affordable housing and community benefit. It gives access to stable and affordable housing to people who are normally priced out of the housing market by way of either a long term lease or a shared equity arrangement. Residents own their home, can resell it and leave it as an inheritance for their children. They maintain equity in their property, although this is capped on resale to prevent speculation and maintain affordability.

There are currently over 200 CLTs in America and over 100 in the UK but, as yet, none in Australia. This is a very exciting opportunity not only for Tasman Ecovillage but for the wider Tasmanian and Australian community, as the information that is gathered from the Case Studies will inform future projects.

The UWS team have already done extensive research into the establishment of CLTs in Australia, the result of which was published in 2013 as “The Australian Community Land Trust Manual”.  Phase 2 is the next stage of this research.