Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB)
Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB) (https://cltb.be/) develops affordable rental and co-ownership housing projects in Brussels for low-income households.
Description
By April 2020, CLTB had delivered 49 dwellings and a further 59 were under construction. Its co-ownership housing is an example of the subsidy retention model of shared housing equity and therefore provides “permanently affordable” housing.[1]
Under this model, housing is built or refurbished on land which is collectively owned by the community land trust. Home buyers apply to CLTB to buy a home and, if their application is successful, they do so for a price which reflects their income rather than the market value. They also sign a ground lease contract which compels them to lease the land from the CLT for 50 years and when this finishes, they can renew it.
Alternatively, they can sell their dwelling to another household that meets the CLTB conditions of access; though dwellings can also be sold before the ground lease expires, if needed. However, in case of sale, the resident receives 25 per cent of the increase in value above what they paid for the dwelling and CLTB receives 6 per cent or EUR 3,000, whichever is the highest. The next household purchases the home at this sale price, which effectively neutralizes the remaining 69 per cent of the increase in value of the dwelling.
Collaborative management of buildings and the organization are also core principles of CLTB. Before buyers move into their new home they participate in a ‘project group’ with other buyers in same complex which collectively agrees the final design and fit-out of the dwellings and also how the housing estates or building will be managed. After buyers move into their new homes it is envisaged that they will take over responsibility the management of the estate or building. Current and future CLT members can attend the Trust’s annual general meeting and participate in decisions regarding the management of CLTB, as well as sit on the board of directors of CLTB.
Actors involved
Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB)
Scale
Regional
[1] Tom Moore and Kim McKee, “Empowering Local Communities? An International Review of Community Land Trusts”, Housing Studies, vol. 27, Issue 2 (2012), pp. 280-290.
An initiative of:
