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.