Developing community led affordable housing, amenities and employment opportunities in East Cambridgeshire
About Us
East Cambs CLT is a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society, run entirely by volunteers. The Trust was established in November 2017 as an umbrella Community Land Trust (CLT) for the whole of East Cambridgeshire. We work with communities who are interested in community led housing but do not have the desire to establish their own CLT. This way communities can influence and have a say over their development and provide much needed affordable housing for local people without the hard work!
Unlike the CLTs currently set up in East Cambridgeshire, which provide benefits for a specific parish or village, East Cambs CLT develop affordable housing, community amenities and employment opportunities district wide. Many communities do not have the confidence or appetite for risk required to set up and manage a local CLT, but would be the pleased recipients of affordable housing and amenities. East Cambs CLT take on this risk for them, and facilitate true community-led development by setting up and working with a local housing group. This gives communities de facto CLT influence without having to shoulder the responsibility and risk associated with managing their own development and subsequent affordable housing.
What is a Community Land Trust?
A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a not-for-profit organisation owned and run by the local community (members) to develop and manage homes, as well as other assets, that have a real benefit to the community.
CLTs are a way for communities to build, bring back to life or protect buildings or services that are important to them.
CLTs can build homes that local people need and can afford.
The CLT homes are protected by an asset lock, which means the affordability is legally protected so that future residents will also benefit.
Homes cannot be sold for inflated profits, and any extra money the CLT earns or raises must go back into the pot to be used for community benefit.