How it Works
Here to Stay Community Land Trust builds and rehabs homes and raises funds so we can lower their price to what’s affordable for income-qualified families. By removing homes from the market, forever, homes are permanently affordable.
This approach centers on stewardship, equity, and long-term community benefit, for generations.
The Problem
Avondale, Hermosa, Humboldt Park and Logan Square are mixed-income and multi-ethnic communities on Chicago’s Northwest Side experiencing rapid gentrification. Here are some examples of how demographics have been shifting over the last 25 years.
People want to stay in the neighborhoods where they grew up. But too many of us can no longer afford to stay here without programs like Here to Stay Community Land Trust.
Our Solution
Against this backdrop, in 2018 Palenque LSNA (formerly the Logan Square Neighborhood Association) led a community planning process for West Logan Square and Hermosa, funded and supported by LISC-Chicago. The affordable housing committee identified policies, programs, and organizing campaigns that would together form a robust response to the gentrification of the community.
The plan, published in October of 2018 was called Here to Stay and one of signature projects of the plan was the development of a Community Land Trust of the same name. Members of the committee included staff and leaders from all four founding organizations, Spanish Coalition for Housing, LUCHA, Center for Changing Lives and Palenque LSNA (formerly the Logan Square Neighborhood Association).
After extensive research and organizing, they determined the best way to establish the community land trust was to develop a separate 501c3 non profit organization that was incorporated in September 2019. Here to Stay’s first acquisition for its portfolio was completed by fall 2021.
By closing the affordability gap, Here to Stay presents a permanent solution that allows low- to moderate-income legacy families to remain in the community they’ve called home for decades by providing affordable home ownership and naturally occurring affordable rental opportunities (from the rental of the units in two and three flats).
We are grateful for the tireless efforts of so many that make this program possible. Their conviction to create affordable housing helps families stay rooted in their communities.
Here to Stay has helped our blended family move into a home within our community. Our home provides us with security, hope, and the opportunity to build a future together.
My parents are retired and it gives us peace of mind that we have secured housing. They can enjoy their lives without having to move away from our neighborhood, and I am 10 minutes away from work.
Community Land Trusts are found on all seven continents
The story of the modern CLT movement begins with the New Communities, Inc., in Georgia in the 1960’s. This prototype was pioneered by Black civil rights activists in the United States.
The worldwide growth of the contemporary CLT reflects that global inheritance — and a future in which communities worldwide benefit from the security of tenure that community-owned housing on community-owned land can provide. Today there are some 600 community land trust across the world, 300 in the United States. In Illinois, there are four active community land trusts, with more emerging.
At the core of every community is the pursuit of well-being, stability, and a sense of belonging. Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are non-profit organizations that help cultivate environments where these values can flourish, holding land for the collective benefit of a place-based community.
A CLT acts as a guardian of crucial assets—most common affordable housing but also community gardens, civic buildings, and commercial spaces—ensuring these remain accessible and supportive of the community’s long-term needs.
In exchange for the opportunity to buy a home far below market rates, homeowners agree to a resale formula that controls the appreciation of the home. This formula allows them to earn a fair return of equity while at the same time passing on an affordable price to the next owner if/when they sell the home. Selected heirs can inherit the home and will be required to sign a new ground lease and live in the home.
