In response to constant, increasing threats of housing insecurity and displacement, marginalized communities in California have long fought for the ability to stay rooted in, and collectively shape the future of, the places they call home. Their efforts have seeded a diverse field of community owned housing. While these housing models, like community land trusts and limited equity housing cooperatives, have grown steadily for decades, movements to scale community owned housing have recently gained new momentum.
As more affordable housing organizations, with varying ideological perspectives and theories of change, engage with the field, tensions have emerged regarding how community ownership is defined and practiced. The lack of consensus opens up the question of what it means to scale community owned housing, which must be answered to identify pathways to scale. This research project set out to understand the multitude of ways in which thought leaders and practitioners within the community ownership field are responding to these foundational questions.
The findings and recommendations in this report result from a collaborative research process that included a series of structured interviews, a three-day convening of twenty practitioners from across California, and feedback from the same practitioners on draft findings. Click here to download this report.
