Community Land Trust Network of Marin

Affordable housing is and has been a concern for Marin County residents, and many local elected officials from the Marin County Board of Supervisors and several City and Town Councils in Marin have identified affordable housing as a top priority. 

  Additionally, the County’s 2023-2031 Housing Element includes several programs aimed at: 

• Preserving affordable housing;
• Supporting low income renters and homeowners;
• Preserving at-risk housing; and
• Continuing to support community land trusts.

Protecting, preserving, and producing affordable housing requires a range of tools and strategies to meet the housing needs of our communities.  Community land trusts (CLTs) are one of the tools along with strategies designed to increase long-term housing stability for low- and moderate-income households, prevent displacement of current residents, and create pathways for affordable homeownership. 

This project will take the first steps toward creating a community land trust network (CLTN) that serves all areas of Marin, while also supporting Marin’s existing CLTs and other small, affordable housing developers. This project also seeks to increase the resources available in Marin County to create and preserve permanently affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households beyond CLTs.

A CLT is a nonprofit organization that acquires and owns land for the long-term benefit of a community. Homes or apartments on the land are sold or rented at below-market rates to ensure permanent affordability. Residents and community members are part of the nonprofit CLT board of directors and help guide decisions to ensure affordability, resident stability and local control. 

While there are many CLT models, a typical CLT for affordable housing works like this: 

• A CLT is established as a nonprofit organization that is designed to create and preserve permanently affordable housing.
• The CLT purchases or acquires land and retains ownership on behalf of the community. If the land has an existing building or housing on it, those structures would either be owned by homeowners or designated as rental units owned by the CLT. The separation of land and buildings allows the land to be held in trust for the long-term benefit of the community and ensures that the housing stays affordable.
• CLTs can focus on either or both the homeownership and rental model. In the homeownership model, homeowners own their homes, and the land is owned by the land trust. For renters, the CLT owns both the land and the building, and renters benefit from stable, predictable rents tied to income levels rather than market rates. In both models, homes are kept as permanently affordable.
• The purchase price of a CLT home is more affordable than a market rate home, because the homeowner is only buying the house, not the land. Homeowners lease the land from the CLT in a long-term (often 99-year), renewable lease.
• If the homeowner chooses to sell their home, they agree to sell the home at a restricted price to keep it affordable in perpetuity, and they may still be able to realize appreciation from improvements they make while they live in their home. 

Correct; under a CLT, the homeowner owns their house, and they lease the land. The land always remains part of the community trust and can never be sold as part of an individual’s home. This model allows the homeowner to purchase the home and not the land, which results in a lower purchase price. 

A typical CLT is a nonprofit organization run by a board, staff, and community members. Typically, the board is made up of 1/3 residents, 1/3 community stakeholders, and 1/3 professional experts. The CLT board balances the interest of its residents, the broader community, and the public. 

Their goals are to promote long-term and stable housing; opportunities for creating and growing assets and wealth over time; preserving, protecting and maintaining land for the community benefit; and ensuring that public investments in affordable housing remain affordable over the long term, rather than being lost to the private market. A CLT leverages resources from both the public and private sectors and is not controlled by local, County or State governments.

Under the CLT model, the tenants and homeowners rent or own their housing. However, the land beneath the housing is owned by the CLT organization, not the County. The CLT organization is a nonprofit that is responsible for the ownership and management of the land and whose long-term commitment is to the community and whose mission is to keep the land for the benefit of the residents and the community.  Because the land is owned by the CLT and will remain in the trust, it is protected from the investment-driven real estate market. 

Every CLT is different, and there is not one approach in how they develop or grow.  Because of the limited amount of land that is available for any affordable housing development in Marin, the CLTN will look primarily at existing and smaller and mid-sized properties throughout the county. The number of available sites and existing properties, combined with available funding and other housing development requirements, can determine and influence the rate and amount of growth for a CLT. 

As with all housing developments in Marin, the process from idea to production is a long one. Upon completion of Phase 3 of this project and once a governance structure is recommended and a funding source is established, the Board of Supervisors must approve the creation of a CLTN. An implementation plan will then be developed with timelines for the creation of the nonprofit entity and for its board of directors. Until that structure is established, the new nonprofit organization will be unable to purchase any properties, although the existing Marin CLTs will be able to continue to do so.

Like other nonprofit organizations, CLTs rely on grant funding to cover their start-up and operating costs during their early years. Sources include private philanthropy (such as foundations, local employers, individual donors, and faith-based organizations) and public sector funding from federal, state, and municipal sources. Once their holdings reach a substantial scale, some CLTs have been able to generate enough revenue internally (via ground lease fees, lease re-issuance fees, rents, membership dues, and fees for service) to cover their stewardship responsibilities, ensuring that resources (land, housing, finances, public assets) are not depleted or misused. 

Marin currently has several CLTs that have successfully developed affordable housing for their local communities or are interested in acquiring or developing affordable housing. A countywide CLTN will be able to expand this housing strategy to all areas of the County and provide technical assistance and support to the smaller CLTs and emerging housing organizations. The goal is to increase long-term housing stability for low- and moderate-income households, prevent displacement of current residents, and create pathways for affordable homeownership for all communities in Marin. 

Additionally, a CLTN can identify opportunities to decrease the average cost per unit for development and operations in comparison to the cost of creating housing through smaller and more local CLTs and can increase opportunities to access funding. 

This approach is also intended to support the County’s existing CLTs by exploring the possibility of sharing technical and managerial resources and financing opportunities for housing development. 

This approach will enable the County of Marin to help ALL communities by: 

• Increasing permanently affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households;
• Implementing an anti-displacement strategy for vulnerable individuals and families to stay in their homes;
• Supporting local businesses by creating opportunities for workers to live closer to their jobs;
• Ensuring community voice in housing decisions;
• Preserving existing affordable housing through the purchase of small and mid-sized properties that often offer below-market rents, which prevents displacement of existing households;
• Supporting local economies through the preservation of smaller and mid-sized properties; and
• Developing a countywide strategy to break down barriers to the creation and development of all permanent affordable housing, including CLTs. 

SFCLT, one of the oldest CLTs in California, has deep experience in preserving affordable housing and preventing displacement. SFCLT leads local and regional efforts to bring together key public and private stakeholders, funders, and developers to advance collaborative solutions for affordable housing development. SFCLT will also provides technical assistance to existing CLTs, shares best practices, and helps design governance structures for Marin’s CLTN. 

One of the goals of the CLTN is to expand its public engagement to include the entire network of people, organizations, policies, resources, and conditions that influence how housing is produced, accessed, maintained, and preserved within a community. While the County has heard from and learned a great deal about the challenges to developing affordable housing, this assessment is different in the following ways: 

The assessment includes individuals, groups and experts from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, including: 

• Existing CLTs;
• Existing and emerging nonprofit housing developers;
• Local and Bay Area housing funders;
• Community development financial institutions (CDFIs);
• Marin’s cities and towns;
• Other Bay Area government entities that have a proven track record for developing unique affordable housing projects and funding and financing options for affordable housing; and
• Nonprofit organizations and key individuals connected to low- and moderate-income residents. 

The assessment will also: 

• Develop strategies and solutions to fill the gaps identified in the assessment;
• Identify how all affordable housing developments in Marin can utilize the resources and collaborations developed during the needs assessment process and throughout the entire project;
• Identify resources for the acquisition and development of smaller and mid-sized properties, including smaller scale duplexes and fourplexes. Often referred to as “missing middle housing,” this strategy may also create opportunities for affordable “starter homes” that allow new buyers to enter otherwise competitive housing markets, while also supporting local workers and businesses who often cannot compete with larger developers and contractors.

Ultimately, the assessment will help determine the design for the nonprofit governance structure for the countywide CLT.

Determining the role of a CLTN in relation to existing CLTs in Marin and within the affordable housing ecosystem of Marin is a key part of this project. The CLTN will benefit from the experiences of the existing CLTs. 

Their first-hand knowledge of the complexity of establishing and maintaining a CLT in Marin will not only provide local knowledge for the needs assessment, but their participation on the steering committee will help lead the creation of the governance structure for the CLTN. In addition, the existing CLTs will be able to participate in the technical assistance provided and facilitated by SFCLT to move their work and affordable housing projects forward. 

The CLTN can only be developed by hearing directly from people who are and have faced housing challenges, including displacement risks, affordability thresholds, or barriers to homeownership. As a result, SFCLT will lead the community engagement process and gather key community feedback with this in mind. The process will include: 

• Conducting public workshops to educate communities about CLTs;
• Inviting participation in focus groups about housing needs and priorities;
• Communicating project updates and opportunities to share feedback;
• Identifying ways to further encourage neighbor and community group involvement;
• Meeting with potential homeowners and residents interested in living in CLT housing, including identifying the resources necessary for successful homeownership and tenancy; and
• Holding community workshops to further develop the governance structure for the CLTN.

The steering committee will assemble key community and affordable housing stakeholders to: 

• Review the needs assessment and provide additional input on strategies and solutions;
• Create a cohesive group to advance an anti-displacement/preservation strategy in Marin County; and
• Develop a proposed governance structure for a countywide CLT.

Phase 2 of the project focuses on technical assistance for existing CLTs and other emerging affordable housing developers in Marin. SFCLT will leverage its expertise and training experience in areas such as acquisition, proforma development, asset management, fair housing compliance, and stewardship and also make connections to technical assistance offerings from affordable housing finance institutions. Technical assistance will be in the form of both direct technical assistance and technical assistance workshops. SFCLT has run a successful pilot of its Capacity Catalyst Program for the CLT Capacity Collaborative (CCC), an organization of 15 Bay Area CLTs, and intends to use its experience with the pilot to support and train Marin’s existing organizations.

As with most housing developments, the creation of the CLTN is a process that will take time to create, develop and implement. An essential part of the process is ensuring there is a robust community engagement process. As a result, anyone in need or interested in finding housing should consider contacting one of the existing community land trusts (CLTs) in Marin. 

Those include the Community Land Trust Association of West Marin (CLAM), the Bolinas Community Land Trust, the Mount Tam Community Land Trust, Two Valleys Community Land Trust, and Hope Housing Community Land Trust. We are also encouraging anyone interested in learning more about CLTs and Marin's CLTN to sign up for updates and announcements at: MarinCounty.gov/CLT. 

Based on the feedback received during the needs assessment, we determined that community land trust network (CLTN) was a more appropriate name for the project. The goal of the project is to create a governance structure that is led by and includes a network of  key leaders, stakeholders, existing land trusts, various communities and the public that represent a cross section of  the Marin County housing ecosystem. Thus, the name Community Land Trust Network of Marin.