The Community Ownership Policy Guide

Practitioners working to advance community-controlled land and housing operate in a playing field that wasn't designed for them. This guide documents the policy strategies advocates are pursuing at the state and local level -- organized into five categories and paired with a companion database of examples from across the country.

A Practitioner's Guide to Community Ownership Policy
A Practitioner's Guide to Community Ownership Policy cover
The Policy Guide
A practitioner's overview of the five policy categories, how they work together, and examples of each from across the country.
Download the Guide
Community Ownership Policy Database screenshot
The Policy Database
Explore policy types, descriptions, and examples filterable by category.
Explore the Database

The five policy categories
Expanding Access to Land and Property
Policies that help community ownership organizations compete for land against speculative buyers.
Strengthening Organizational Capacity
Policies that fund the stewardship and governance work that rents and development fees rarely cover.
Enhancing Legal Security and Legitimacy
Policies that define community ownership models in law and unlock their eligibility for public programs.
Supporting Affordability
Policies that provide the subsidies and financing community ownership organizations need to serve lower-income households.
Advancing Broader Affordable Housing Policy
Broader affordable housing campaigns that strengthen the conditions for community ownership, even when it is not their exclusive focus.
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Beyond the Win: What It Takes to Make Community Ownership Policies Stick