Permanent Homes
on Permanent
Ground.
Everground Community Land Trust acquires land in Canada’s most housing-stressed cities — beginning in Hamilton and Windsor — and holds it in trust forever. Headquartered in Edmonton on Treaty 6 Territory.
Everground Community Land Trust operates on Treaty 6 Territory — the traditional lands of the Cree, Nakota Sioux, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, and Métis peoples. We honour our obligations under Treaty 6 and are committed to meaningful, relationship-first engagement with Indigenous communities in everything we build.
"The market will never fix this. Governments are too slow. Developers have no incentive. Someone has to hold the ground. That’s us. Everground exists to build what the market will never build: permanence."
Permanently Affordable · Forever
We Don't Just Build Houses.
We Build Permanence.
Canada is in the midst of its most severe housing crisis in a generation. In cities across the country, homeownership has become structurally inaccessible for working families, essential workers, Indigenous communities, newcomers, and the next generation of Canadians.
Everground exists to build a permanent alternative: a trust-held land model where affordability is not a program with an expiry date — it is a legal, structural guarantee that outlasts any government, any policy cycle, any market condition. We acquire land, renovate homes, develop the workforce, and lock affordability in permanently by law.
We Acquire Land
In cities where families are being left behind.
We Hold It Forever
Land is never sold, never flipped, never speculated on.
Families Get Homes
Permanently affordable, generationally secure homes.
Indigenous Partnership
Designed with First Nations leadership and stewardship principles woven into our legal and governance structure.
The Organization Behind
Permanent Ground.
Everground Community Land Trust was founded on a simple but radical premise: that the housing crisis is not a market failure that can be corrected by the market — it is a structural failure that requires a structural solution. Not a subsidy. Not a rental program. A permanent, legally enforced redesign of how land is owned, and by whom.
Alberta has never had a community land trust. The model has operated across North America for over fifty years — in 300+ organizations — demonstrating, repeatedly, that permanently affordable homeownership is achievable when land is removed from speculation and held in trust for the community.
Everground brings that model to Edmonton, to Treaty 6 Territory, and to the families who have been waiting a generation for a housing institution that serves them — not the market.
Everground is a federally incorporated non-profit organization with charitable registration in process. Our founding team brings experience in real estate development, community advocacy, legal structuring, and Indigenous relations. We are building an organization designed to outlast all of us.
Permanence
We build institutions and legal structures designed to outlast any single person, government, or market cycle. Permanence is not an aspiration — it is a legal commitment.
Precision
We operate with exacting standards in renovation, governance, legal structure, and financial management. The families who trust us deserve nothing less.
Relationship
We operate in genuine relationship with Indigenous communities, partner organizations, and the families we serve — not as a provider delivering services, but as a community institution.
Legacy
Every decision is made with generational vision. We are building something that will serve Alberta families for a hundred years. We carry that responsibility in every choice.
The People Building Everground
Josaphat Mukrokhame
An Edmonton-based entrepreneur and land strategist with a portfolio of operating companies across real estate development, advisory, construction, and workforce development. Josaphat founded Everground to create Alberta's first permanent, community-governed land trust.
Board Director
We are actively recruiting an Indigenous community leader with deep roots in the Edmonton Treaty 6 community to serve as a founding board member and guide our reconciliation commitments.
Legal & Governance Counsel
We are recruiting a housing or property lawyer experienced in CLT ground lease structures, Alberta Land Titles Act instruments, and not-for-profit legal architecture.
Founding Director at Large
We are building our tripartite board with community members who represent the Edmonton families and neighborhoods Everground will serve. Applications welcome.
Trades Operations Lead
We are recruiting an experienced Red Seal journeyperson or construction manager to lead Everground's renovation operations from the ground up — from first acquisition to portfolio scale.
Capital & Funding Director
We are seeking a professional with experience in CMHC programs, federal housing grants, and provincial capital streams to lead Everground's funding relationships and partnership development.
The Numbers Demand Urgency.
Rent Increases Since 2021
Average rents in major Canadian cities have surged, eroding the financial stability of tens of thousands of working families and making every lease renewal a crisis event.
Critically Low Vacancy
Critically low vacancy rates leave families with few alternatives when facing eviction or unaffordable renewals — a landlord's market in the worst possible sense.
Indigenous Housing Gap
Indigenous households face disproportionately higher rates of housing insecurity, overcrowding, and inadequate shelter in urban centres — a legacy of structural dispossession.
Federal Housing Commitment
Canada has committed billions to affordable housing. Community land trusts are among the highest-priority vehicles for federal capital deployment — and Alberta has zero.
Unhoused in Edmonton Alone
Major Canadian cities are seeing the highest recorded counts of individuals experiencing homelessness in their history, underscoring the urgency of the crisis.
CLTs in Alberta
Despite proven success across North America and the UK, Alberta has no established community land trust. Three hundred CLTs operate elsewhere. None here. Until Everground.
The free market has demonstrated, conclusively, that it cannot solve the housing crisis alone. Everground exists to build what the market will never build: permanence.
How the Community Land Trust Works
The Community Land Trust model has a 50-year track record across 300+ organizations in North America. It is not a rental program. It is not a subsidy. It is a structural redesign of land ownership that produces permanent affordability without permanent government expenditure.
At its core, the CLT model separates land ownership from home ownership. The trust owns the land forever. The homeowner owns the structure — and builds real equity through it. A legally registered resale formula ensures affordability is preserved for every future buyer.
The Key Principle: Land vs. Home
In the conventional market, the reason homes become unaffordable is speculative land value. Land appreciates freely — and that appreciation price is borne by every successive buyer. The CLT breaks this cycle by removing land from the equation entirely.
Trust Owns the Land
Everground holds land in trust permanently — it can never be sold to a speculator, developer, or private owner. The community owns the ground, forever.
You Own the Home
Homeowners purchase the structure and lease the land under a 99-year renewable ground lease. They hold a mortgage, build equity, and have all the rights of homeownership.
Formula Governs Resale
When a homeowner sells, a legally registered formula caps the price — ensuring the next buyer can afford it, while the seller retains a meaningful equity gain.
Land Acquisition
Everground acquires land through government grants, foreclosures, donations, and partnerships. Land is permanently removed from the speculative market and held in trust — forever. No private owner. No developer. The community.
Renovation & Construction
Existing homes are renovated to a modern residential standard by our in-house trades team. All work performed by employed journeypersons at competitive wages. Where land is vacant, new construction proceeds through qualified partnerships.
Affordable Ownership
Qualifying families purchase the home — not the land — at 20–35% below market value through a 99-year renewable ground lease. They access conventional insured mortgages. They build real equity as genuine homeowners.
Governed Resale
When residents sell, a legally registered resale formula ensures the next family pays an affordable price — while the seller retains meaningful equity gains. The cycle of affordability never breaks. Every home stays affordable, forever.
The legal instrument
that makes it all permanent.
The 99-year renewable Ground Lease Agreement is the document that makes CLT homeownership legal, real, and permanent. It grants the homeowner the right to occupy the land for 99 years — renewable by them or their heirs — at a nominal monthly land use fee (typically $50–$150).
The lease contains the resale restriction, the maintenance obligations, and the rights of the homeowner — and it is registered on title at Land Titles Alberta, making it legally enforceable against all future owners, lenders, and successors in interest.
Wealth for the Homeowner.
Affordability for the Next.
The Everground Ground Lease Agreement contains a legally binding resale restriction embedded directly in the title of every home. It is not a moral agreement. It is a legal instrument, registered on title under Alberta's Land Titles Act, governing every future sale of the property for as long as the home exists.
The Everground Resale Price Formula
Legal Mechanism: The resale restriction is embedded in the Ground Lease Agreement and registered as a restrictive covenant on title at Land Titles Alberta. It is a property right that runs with the land — binding on all future owners, lenders, and successors in interest regardless of circumstance. No sale can be completed without Everground's written confirmation that the resale price complies with the formula. Everground holds a legally registered right of first refusal on every resale. This is not a policy. It is a property law instrument enforceable in Alberta courts.
The Seller Always Wins — Fairly
Every Everground homeowner who sells walks away with a meaningful equity gain — their 25% share of appreciation, plus 100% of documented capital improvements, plus CPI indexing. This is real, transferable wealth. We protect it.
The Next Buyer Never Gets Priced Out
Because the resale price is formula-capped, the next family can always afford the same home the previous family bought — even in a rising market. The CLT absorbs the speculative gain. The community retains the affordable home.
Lenders Are Protected
Everground's ground lease is structured to comply with CMHC and major lender mortgage requirements. Homeowners access conventional insured mortgages. The resale restriction does not impair the lender's security — it is a recognized instrument in Canadian housing finance.
Capital Improvements Are Yours — In Full
Every dollar invested in documented improvements — new kitchen, additional room, accessibility upgrades — is returned to the owner in full at resale. Owners are rewarded for maintaining and improving their homes. The formula never penalizes investment.
Every Dollar Invested
Works Forever.
Generational Equity Building
Unlike renters who build zero equity, CLT homeowners build real, transferable wealth — averaging $37,000–$115,000 over 5–20 years — while remaining in homes that stay affordable for their neighbours. This is the equity gap solution.
Permanent Public Return on Investment
One dollar invested in CLT land produces affordable housing for every generation thereafter. No other housing model removes the need for recurring government expenditure in this way. The ROI is structurally permanent.
Local Economic Generation
Every renovation creates local employment, supplier relationships, and skills development. Our trades employment model recirculates capital directly into the Edmonton economy through young workers who live and spend locally.
Community Stability
CLT neighborhoods demonstrate measurably lower crime rates, higher school performance, and stronger civic participation. Stable housing produces stable communities — a documented, evidence-based outcome replicated across 300 organizations.
Reconciliation in Practice
Everground operationalizes the TRC's Calls to Action on housing — not as a policy statement, but as a legal, funded, governed structure that permanently serves Indigenous families on Treaty 6 territory.
Permanent Reduction in Government Cost
Every CLT homeowner permanently exits the rental subsidy system, emergency shelter demand, and housing crisis intervention cycle. The fiscal return to government is structural and compounding over decades.
The Case for Investment
Everground is seeking partners — government bodies, foundations, corporations, and individuals — who understand that affordable housing is the most efficient long-term social infrastructure investment available.
Building Where the Need
is Greatest
We are launching in cities across Canada where the housing crisis is most acute. Our phased approach focuses on regions with a demonstrated need for affordable homeownership and a potential for strong community and municipal partnerships.
Edmonton
Thunder Bay
Hamilton
Windsor
Is your city in crisis? Let's talk.
Partner with UsFrom the Ground Up.
Our Latest.
Everything You Need
to Know
Your Questions, Answered
The CLT model is powerful — and new to Alberta. We understand that it raises questions. Below are the most common ones we hear from families, funders, and government partners.
If your question isn't here, reach out directly. We believe that an informed community is the foundation of a permanent one.
Ask Us DirectlyReady to Call Everground Home?
Get an instant preliminary eligibility assessment from our AI assistant and join over 147 households on the Everground waitlist. When our first renovated homes are ready, registered families are the first to receive housing offers. Registration is free and confidential.
For Government &
Partnership Inquiries
Whether you are a government official exploring housing partnership, a foundation reviewing a grant application, a First Nation exploring collaboration, a trades professional interested in employment, or a family seeking a home — we want to hear from you.
Edmonton, Alberta · Treaty 6 Territory