SaMo Beach Commons
The Santa Monica EcoVillage Network
Permanently Affordable Tenant Controlled Limited Equity Housing
Concept Overview: Expand our set of housing strategies to embrace "Permanently Affordable Tenant Controlled Housing" (PATCH) and, possibly, commercial properties, as well. An allied concept is “Community Owned Real Estate” (CORE) for permanently affordable, community-oriented land uses.
· Empirical Foundation: This model emerges from traditional land use and land management practices, and was empirically described by Elinor Ostrom, Nobel laureate for economics. National groups providing information on this model include.
o Schumacher Center (http://69.167.148.157/content/community-land-trusts ) -&- https://centerforneweconomics.org/apply/community-land-trust-program/toolkit-legal-documents/
o Institute for Local Self Reliance (https://ilsr.org/protecting-communities-from-gentrification-community- land-trusts/ -&- https://ilsr.org/rule/community-ownership-commercial-spaces/commercial-community-land-trust/ - &- https://ilsr.org/tackling-problem-commercial-gentrification/
o Grounded Solutions Network – Community Land Trusts: https://groundedsolutions.org/strengthening-neighborhoods/community-land-trusts
o Barbara Bezdek, “To Have and to Hold – Community Land Trust as Commons.” 2020 (https://www.academia.edu/41909309/To_Have_and_to_Hold_Community_Land_Trusts_as_Commons?auto=download )
o The Democracy Collaborative, Community Wealth https://community-wealth.org /
o John Emmeus Davis, “Origins and Evolution of the Community Land Trust in the United States.” 2014. (https://community-wealth.org/content/origins-and-evolution-community-land-trust-united-states ) -&- https://community-wealth.org/sites/clone.community-wealth.org/files/downloads/report-davis14.pdf )
o Charlotte Hess, “Mapping the New Commons.” 2008 (http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/304/Mapping_the_NewCommons.pdf )
· Emerging Global Trend: Land as a Commons. David Bollier (http://www.bollier.org/blog/bold-agenda-treating-land-commons )
· Emerging Nation-wide Trend -- Community Land Trusts (CLTs): California examples include: Community Land Trust Network (https://www.cacltnetwork.org/ ) representing 15+ established groups statewide, The Northern California Community Land Trust (https://nclt.org/ ) -&- East Bay Permanently Affordable Real Estate Coop (https://ebprec.org/)
· A Los Angeles County CLT is in formation at this time with 350+ members of the Los Angeles area affordable housing coalition involved with the community land trust working group. UCLA 2020 Community Collaborative Report (https://www.cacltnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/De-Commodifying-Housing-During-COVID-19.pdf)
· Examples of Local CLTs & Coops: A local example is the award-winning Los Angeles Eco-Village. (https://laecovillage.org/ ) This community is comprised of 4 properties, 3 of which are diverse and multi-family, and 1 of which is commercial. The underlying land trust is the "Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust" (BVCLT), and the property improvements are held in a limited equity housing cooperative. There is an associated educational non-profit (CRSP), and a community revolving loan fund offering low-interest loans.
· Examples of Legal Services: The Oakland based nonprofit "Sustainable Economies Law Center" (https://www.theselc.org/) founded by Janelle Orsi (attorney), author of Practicing Law in the Sharing Economy: Helping People Build Cooperatives, Social Enterprise, and Local Sustainable Economies (https://www.americanbar.org/products/inv/book/213144/ ) CLT & Coop Bay Area Incubator -- the SELC: (https://www.theselc.org/rethinking-home )
· Examples of Evaluation Methods: Blue Marble Evaluation. Michael Quinn Patton, Blue Marble Evaluation. (https://bluemarbleeval.org/)
Goals: Short term goals include promoting and supporting sustainable and equitable development by an acquisition and funding strategy for a Santa Monica EcoVillage Network demonstration program. Over the next X years acquire Y properties and establish additional Limited-Equity Housing Cooperatives, with each new effort benefitting from evaluation and insights from those already operating. Through education and advocacy, work with community partners to evolve such community-based land use models. The result will be to develop a network of community land trusts and limited equity cooperatives across 8.3 square mile Santa Monica. Santa Monica already boasts a leading role in community planning. In this way Santa Monica also can become a leader in the nation-wide movement for permanently affordable, tenant controlled, limited-equity, housing, and commercial property programs.
Demonstrate Best Practices: The Santa Monica EcoVillage Network evaluation framework will seek to provide evidence of positive, measurable outcomes. It will also provide information needed to further improve the program. The evaluation framework will adaptively evolve based on a social and ecological systems approach as outlined in Blue Marble Evaluation (BME).
Updated: August 31, 2020 Co-Chairs: Arlene Hopkins -&- Diane Miller