Description
The Community Land Trust Network is the charity for community land trusts in England and Wales: local, member-controlled non-profits that own land so that the homes on it stay affordable for local people, with a map to find one near you.
A community land trust (CLT) isn’t a legal form of its own but has been defined in law since 2008, now in the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022. It must be set up for a defined local community, be not-for-profit, let local people join and be controlled by its members. An asset lock on the land, and the initial subsidy, keep the homes affordable in relation to what people earn locally, for rent or for sale. The network says there are more than 500 CLT groups; its 2020 sector report counted over 1,000 homes built and nearly 7,000 in the pipeline.
The network started in 2010 as the National CLT Network and became an independent charity in June 2014. It is funded by members’ fees, paid services and contracts, and foundations such as Esmée Fairbairn and the Nationwide Foundation. Its map shows live projects, projects being planned or built and groups forming. To start a CLT, groups get help from regional community-led housing hubs.
Strengths
- The asset lock keeps the land and homes affordable for later residents too, not only for the first buyers or tenants.
- Local people can join and control the trust, so the community decides what is built and for whom.
- The map shows live projects, projects in planning or construction, and groups that are still forming.
Weaknesses
- Numbers are small against the need: about 1,000 homes built by 2020, and a London Assembly report in 2025 found CLTs short of money and land.
- The network doesn’t allocate homes or run a waiting list, and its pages don’t explain how a household gets one; that is up to each trust.
- The network’s figures are not dated on its pages, and the home counters on its site showed no numbers when checked.
Who it is for
People in England and Wales who are priced out of the place they live or work, and communities that want to build homes that stay affordable for local people.
Sources
- Community Land Trust Network: home, what is a CLT, who we are, find a CLT, start a CLT (checked November 2026)
- Community Land Trust Network: State of the CLT Sector Report 2020
- London Assembly: More money and more land needed for London community land trusts and housing co-operatives (2025)
- Resilience: Are community land trusts a way out of the system?