Today, communities around the world mark World Community Land Trust Day — an annual global movement to celebrate community land trusts, share local stories, and highlight the role of community land stewardship in advancing equitable and sustainable development.
At BSH, we are sharing these celebrations by hosting the False Creek South Community Housing Trust at the University of British Columbia for a day of learning and exchange. The event, organized by FCS, brings together CLT practitioners from Toronto and Vancouver, including BSH partners like the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts, Downtown Eastside CLT, Hogan’s Alley Society CLT, Toronto Chinatown Community Land Trust, and Kensington Market Community Land Trust.
For Canada’s CLT movement, this moment arrives at an important time. Across the country, CLTs are gaining momentum as communities, governments, researchers, and housing providers look for models that can move beyond project-by-project affordability and toward long-term community control.
Community land trusts — or CLTs — are non-profit organizations that acquire and hold land on behalf of a community, removing it from the speculative real estate market and making it available for long-term affordable housing and community uses.
For BSH, this international movement is closely connected to our ongoing work to highlight the progress CLTs are making in demonstrating that there are alternative relationships to land and property beyond the market. Our research in partnership with CNCLT has created a strong foundation for understanding the CLT movement in Canada. CLTs center collective ownership, reparations, and reconciliation, and create space not just for affordable housing, but also for local businesses, arts, culture, and sustainable land use practices.
Recent Wins: CLTs in Action
There is a lot to celebrate. Across Canada, CLTs have been making tangible gains — protecting homes, preserving community spaces, driving new development and keeping land out of speculative markets.
The DTES-CLT bought Powell Rooms SRO in early 2026, ensuring that the 23-unit of single-room occupancy (SRO) housing would remain affordable in perpetuity. Powell Rooms also includes a community childcare program that offers after-school care and outdoor learning to low-income families in the neighbourhood. KMCLT has also had a busy year, starting off with the acquisition of 380 Spina Ave. in May of 2025. The building includes two large residential units and one commercial space. One month later KMCLT announced the acquisition of 302 Spadina Avenue, a 5-storey building containing 26 apartments and 11 commercial spaces. These acquisitions protect 28 homes and 12 commercial spaces from the pressures of gentrification and displacement. Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust also had an exciting year with the purchase of 12 Elm Grove Avenue in December of 2025, contributing to the protection of 33 homes, and the announcement that the Neighbourhood Land Trust had been selected by the City of Toronto to develop Parkdale People’s Place. Parkdale People’s Place will be a 16-storey building with 175 rental homes including a range of deeply affordable, family sized and accessible units and 23,300 sq. ft. of community space.
Eyes on Ottawa
The Canadian CLT movement is also entering a period of deeper connection and coordination. The 2026 Community Land Trust Summit, hosted by the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts, will take place in Ottawa from September 28 to October 1, 2026, with partial livestreaming available. The Summit will bring together organizers, academics, policymakers, and practitioners working to advance community land trusts across Canada. Its programming will focus on movement-building, capacity development, financing land acquisitions, sustainable operating models, reconciliation, and the permanent decommodification of real estate.
As we celebrate CLT Day, and ahead of Ottawa’s gathering later this year, one truth feels clearer than ever: a more equitable housing future will be built on land we hold together.
Connect with our CLT partners
CNCLT – the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts by signing up for their newsletter, becoming a member, or joining the next annual CLT Summit.
TCLT – https://chinatownlandtrust.ca/
Hogan’s Alley Society – https://www.hogansalleysociety.org/
Downtown Eastside CLT – https://dtescommunitylandtrust.ca/
KMCLT – https://kmclt.ca/About
Parkdale – https://pnlt.ca/
The Balanced Supply of Housing (BSH) is a SSHRC-CMHC funded partnership grant led by Dr. Alexandra Flynn at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law, focused on land use and housing financialization across Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.
