Housing grounded in permanent affordability and community stewardship.

Two core principles

Permanent affordability

These models maintain affordability over time by limiting speculative price increases and ensuring housing remains accessible to future residents. In practice this is achieved through mechanisms such as separating land and building ownership, capping resale values, using long-term land leases or adopting cooperative ownership structures.

Community-led

Residents and local stakeholders play an active role in shaping, owning and managing the housing projects. Community land trusts (CLTs) and housing cooperatives are developed in response to local needs and often include shared spaces and amenities — green areas, community rooms, workspaces — that contribute to neighbourhood cohesion and belonging.

The main models

Community Land Trusts (CLTs)

CLTs separate ownership of land from ownership of the building. The land is held in trust by a non-profit on behalf of the community, while residents own (or lease) the home above it. Resale conditions ensure the home stays affordable for the next buyer, generation after generation.

Housing cooperatives

Cooperatives are collectively owned and democratically governed by their residents. Models range from rental cooperatives, where members hold long-term use rights at cost-based rents, to shared-equity cooperatives. In most European examples the cooperative — not the individual resident — is the long-term owner.

Why it matters

Where they are recognised and supported, CLTs and cooperatives have been shown to take land and housing permanently out of speculative markets, anchor mixed-income communities in expensive cities and deliver durable, high-quality stock — often at scale.