The 2022 Census of Community Land Trusts and Shared Equity Entities in the United States: Prevalence, Practice and Impact

As communities around the United States grapple with a growing affordability crisis and the ongoing legacy of racially exclusionary housing policies, community land trusts (CLTs) have attracted growing attention from housing practitioners and policymakers as a potential solution. By effectively removing housing from the speculative market and keeping it permanently affordable, CLTs can bring equitable and targeted relief to the housing crisis. In particular, CLTs are best known for providing shared equity homeownership opportunities, where a one-time investment substantially reduces the price of a home to make it affordable to lower-income homebuyers and then the resale price is restricted to keep it affordable for subsequent lower-income homebuyers.

Many nonprofits have adopted shared equity homeownership models and may refer to themselves as “CLTs,” “shared equity programs,” or “below market-rate programs.” The scope of this study includes self-identified CLTs (except for those found to be exclusively conservation land trusts) and nonprofits with shared equity homeownership programs (except for nonprofits exclusively providing cooperative housing). Hereinafter, we will refer to the population of entities identified to meet this definition as "CLT/SE entities."

In the face of the ongoing, sustained housing crisis, CLT/SE entities have continued to develop. Despite growing interest in the model, the last comprehensive, national survey of the CLT field was conducted over a decade ago. To capture the diversity and evolution in CLT/SE entities, this study updates and expands on this previous effort and represents the most exhaustive study of CLT/SE entities to date. Employing extensive primary and secondary data collection strategies that encompassed consolidation of multiple directories, online surveying, web-based data queries, and field expert outreach, we systematically and rigorously tracked the prevalence, practices, and outcomes of CLT/SE entities in the United States and Puerto Rico.

This working paper details aggregate results from the collected data. It not only comprehensively updates the last survey conducted over a decade ago but also covers many emergent and previously under-documented practices in the field. Key findings include:

• More than 300 CLT/SE entities hold over 40,000 housing units across the country, with CLT/SE entities found in almost every state. There are 314 CLT/SE entities in the nation. In total, these organizations are projected to represent 43,931 residential units as of year-end 2022. Overall, CLT/SE entities are located in 46 states, as well as in Washington DC, and Puerto Rico. This represents a nearly 30% increase in the number of CLT/SE entities and nearly a 120% increase in the estimated number of shared equity homes compared to the projections in the last national survey conducted in 2011 (15,606 at the end of 2022 versus 7,139 units at the end of 2011).

• Rental units and shared equity homes account for roughly three-fourths of total units. The survey directly documented a total of 23,183 units from 161 responding organizations (including projected units in 2022), including 10,560 shared equity units and 9,326 rental units. When estimated units were projected for the 314 CLT/SE entities, the largest share of homes is accounted for by rental units, which are approximately 44% of the total. Overall, the total projected unit count includes 15,606 shared equity homes, 19,545 rental units, 778 cooperative units, 925 manufactured homes, 933 lease-to-purchase units, 3,503 non-shared equity homeownership units, and 2,642 units with unknown tenure type.

• Based on today’s population of organizations (n = 314), CLT/SE entities formation rates appear to be rising over time. CLT/SE entities appear to have grown steadily in the past half-century: 11 organizations were established in the 1970s, while 70 were established in the 2010s. Coinciding with the development of CLT literature and national organizing efforts, program creation appears to have increased rapidly since the turn of the century. Between 2000 and 2019, 69% of survey-responding organizations created their shared equity programs, 70% of organizations acquired their first properties, and 63% sold their first shared equity homes.

• Shared equity unit growth for CLT/SE entities is expected. One hundred and thirty-two responding organizations reported that roughly 1,550 units were built or projected to be built during 2022. Additionally, a total of about 2,090 units were projected for 2023 by 119 responding organizations. During 2022 and 2023, therefore, the responding organizations expected 35% growth in the overall number of shared equity homes.

  Responding organizations opted to keep their shared equity portfolios affordable for the long term. Across all legal document types, 98% of programs have affordability terms of 30 years or longer.

• Shared equity homes expand homeownership opportunities and serve targeted families in need. Of 104 responding organizations reporting resident data, approximately 9,650 households lived in shared equity homes at the end of 2021. The vast majority (87%) of these residents are first-time homebuyers. About two in three families have at least one dependent under the age of 18, and about one in three families are headed by single-parent mothers.

• CLT/SE entities are committed to advancing racial justice. The majority of responding organizations (58%) prioritize racial equity or justice for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) above economic equity or justice across all races. The top administrator (e.g., Executive Director or CEO) of about one-fourth of responding organizations is a person of color (POC). The average percentage of board seats filled by POC is 35%. Further, POC make up one-third of the total employees accounted for by the survey. Nearly half (45%) of the heads of households who own a shared equity home are POC.

• CLT/SE entities are financially sound community-based development organizations (CBDOs). CLT/SE entities outperform other CBDOs across the nation in key financial health indicators. Compared to overall CBDOs, CLT/SE entities are less likely to have negative net income (40% versus 47%) or be insolvent (5% versus 16%, which is defined as having liabilities greater than total assets). In addition, CLT/SE entities were less likely to experience financial disruption, measured as a destabilizing drop in net assets of 25% or more within 12 months. CLT/SE entities may also have greater growth potential than CBDOs overall, because CLT/SE entities on average held about $3,235,000 more in assets but only $982,000 more in liabilities.

• Addressing climate change and resilience through CLT/SE entities is gaining momentum. Nearly half (46%) of responding organizations reported that at least one property has been affected by one or more climate-related phenomena. Half of responding organizations reported undertaking some (36%) or frequent (14%) discussions and planning related to climate change. Lastly, of the 113 responding organizations, the majority (80%) are taking action or planning to reduce carbon emissions and/or vulnerability to climate-related hazards.

• CLT/SE entities are key community and economic development actors. Over half of respondents indicated they engage in community planning and policy advocacy, while a notable plurality (10-40%) engage in activities such as commercial development, community organizing, community gardens, and employment and business services.