ATTN: Advocates of affordable housing, tenant empowerment, solidarity economics, democratic control, cooperative ownership, and more!

We are all working to redirect resources towards affordable housing efforts that uplift tenants rather than subsidizing wealthy, corporate landlords; reimagine the tools and vehicles available to us; and expand the legal framework to make our community-focused dreams reality. While we’re doing amazing work, nothing is won alone.

The LA CLT Coalition invites you, our friends and allies, to a small informal gathering to share what we’re working on in our little corner of the universe, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, and to ask for your support as we all move forward towards making housing a human right here in Los Angeles.

Community land trusts were pioneered by civil rights leaders Charles and Shirley Sherrod to help break Black farm workers free from the trap of sharecropping in Bakers County, Georgia. At the time, Black farm workers were in constant threat of being dispossessed from their homes and communities by wealthy white landlords who took advantage of their position to extract as much wealth as they could from their Black tenants. It was 1969 when New Communities, the first community land trust in the US, was established, bought 5700 acres, and became home to over a dozen Black farm workers and their families.

Fast-forward to 2021 and wealthy white landowners are using the same playbook to extract wealth from Black people, dispossess Black people of their homes, and remove Black people from their communities. But like the saying goes “No history, no self. Know history, know self.” Enter Liberty CLT (@liberty_clt). When neoliberals are on the attack, what do they do? Stand up! Fight back! You could call it poetic justice that a new community land trust has risen up in defense of Black people and Black LA.

Join us Tuesday at 6 pm on Instagram LIVE (@topa4la), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/libertyclt), and Zoom (register at http://linktr.ee/TOPA4LA).

El Sereno CLT is David to Caltrans’ Goliath, but not to worry. ESCLT comes from the same stock as the residents who have been fighting back against Caltrans for decades. And while Goliath is proving difficult to conquer, ESCLT is racking up wins all over the place.

Purple and Angela join us this week and tell us why in the end the people of El Sereno will be victorious.

Join us tonight and every Tuesday evening at 6 pm on IG Live and Facebook.

Before Fanny Ortiz became Board Co-President for Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre (FCTL), they were a community member, a mother, an advocate, and so much more. The multiple roles Fanny was taking on in the community led them to organize and found this groundbreaking community land trust based in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, communities that have continually been under attack by developers for decades. Join us every Tuesday at 6pm LIVE on Instagram (@topa4la). Click on the icon above!

In the second episode, LA CLT Coalition organizers Matthew Vu (TRUST South LA) and Fanny Ortiz (FCTL) talk about the latest push to establish CLTs, support emerging CLTs, and build a robust network of community-driven development through the CLT model. Learn how the LA CLT Coalition came to be and how we can accelerate our efforts to create permanently affordable housing for everybody. Join us every Tuesday at 6pm LIVE on Instagram (@topa4la).Click on the icon above!

Join LA CLT Coalition organizers Matthew Vu (TRUST South LA) and Purple Liera (El Sereno CLT) as we launch the first installment of our new weekly series TOPA Tuesday where we will dig into everything CLT, everything TOPA, and everything community-centered development. We’re bringing it to you live from the frontlines with organizers and residents across Los Angeles County who are fighting against corporate landlords and gentrifiers. Join us every Tuesday at 6pm LIVE on Instagram (@topa4la). Click the icon above!