Oakland Community Land Trust – Oakland, California

The Oakland Community Land Trust (OakCLT), in Oakland, California, presents an example of how land trusts can help to reduce displacement pressures in gentrifying cities. It was created in 2009 to stabilize housing threatened with foreclosure as a result of the recession and mortgage crisis. Through mobilization of residents and a local community organization, Urban Strategies Council, the Oakland CLT was formed to acquire and rehabilitate properties in foreclosure. Since it was established, OakCLT has acquired and preserved approximately 50 units of housing and stewards multi-use and commercial properties that provide affordable rents for culturally important businesses and grassroots organizations. The City of Oakland has supported the CLT with grant funding and loan financing, and Alameda County has sold tax-delinquent properties to the CLT to steward as community gardens. Oakland CLT’s goals are to provide permanently affordable housing, offer wealth-building homeownership opportunities for Oakland residents, and fight against displacement of existing residents in low-income communities of color.