Uptown Community Board Backs Creation Of Community Land Trust

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS-INWOOD, NY — The community board representing Washington Heights and Inwood voted Tuesday to support the creation of a community land trust — a nonprofit entity that has the power to develop lands — as a solution to a growing affordable housing crisis in Uptown Manhattan.

Community Board 12 voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution supporting the land trust, which would develop underutilized or vacant city-owned land in Washington Heights and Inwood. The resolution calls on city agencies currently in ownership of underutilized lots to transfer those lands to the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which would then turn the lots over to the community land trust.

The trust would act on the behalf of the residents of Washington Heights and Inwood to redevelop the sites for the community's good. That could mean the creation of affordable housing, community facilities or public benefits such as community gardens. These trusts are often run by a board that is elected or appointed by its membership, which includes anyone living in the jurisdiction of the trust, according to the National Community Land Trust Network.

The community land trust would be developing on city-owned land, which means the potential to create truly affordable housing is greater than relying on a private developer, Community Board 12 chair Shah Ally told Patch.

A land trust is one of many "creative" ideas that can spur affordable housing development uptown, Ally said.

"We understand that creating new housing stock is critical and we are thinking in- and out-of-the-box for solutions," Ally said.

There is no existing community land trust operating in Washington Heights and Inwood, but one is currently in formation, Community Board 12 chair Shah Ally said. The community board's resolution is not an endorsement of that particular land trust, but an endorsement of the concept of a land trust.

The Community Board's resolution initially included a list of city-owned sites that could potentially be turned over to the community land trust, but that list was removed from the resolution Tuesday night.

Going forward, the community board hopes the city agencies that own underutilized land in Washington Heights and Inwood support giving them to a community land trust and that the city government takes steps toward creating the trust, Ally said.

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