Community Land Trust & Housing Land Bank

Cape Cod needs bold and swift action to address the housing crisis. The Regional Housing Strategy, completed in May 2024, provides recommendations for addressing the housing supply, affordability, and availability challenges facing the region.

One of the key regional recommendations is establishing a housing land bank and a community land trust. These two potential new nonprofit entities would facilitate swifter acquisition, stewardship, development, and redevelopment of properties to advance attainable and affordable housing. To support implementation of this recommendation, the Cape Cod Commission is working with a consulting team to develop a framework for possible establishment of a community land trust and housing land bank.

A land bank is an organization—either a public entity or a private nonprofit—that can acquire, hold, manage, redevelop, and dispose of property to aid in the development or redevelopment of affordable housing. A community land trust is a nonprofit organization that holds land in perpetuity for affordable housing, conservation, or another community purpose. On Cape Cod, land trusts have been established for conservation purposes.

The Cape Cod Commission has contracted with a consulting team led by Outwith Studio to support developing a framework for possible establishment of a regional housing land bank and community land trust on Cape Cod. The consultants will make recommendations regarding the types of organization, organizational policies, staffing, estimated budgets, and management structures, and recommend sectors that should be represented on the Board of Directors and in leadership roles within the organizations. They will also outline the approval and implementation processes for establishing a regional housing land bank and community land trust with the participation of all 15 Cape Cod towns and assist with outreach and engagement methods.

Throughout this process, there will be several opportunities for engagement to ensure the vision, mission, and structure of the potential entities reflects the needs of the Cape Cod community. For more project and background information, view the slides and recording from the 2024 OneCape Summit session. If you would like to be engaged in the process or remain updated on this project, please reach out to Chloe Schaefer at chloe.schaefer@capecodcommission.org.