ABOUT US
Southern Door Community Land Trust
Welcome! The Southern Door Community Land Trust is a grassroots coalition of housing advocates committed to creating and launching a community land trust based right here in Broome County, New York.
We are BIPOC led and will work tirelessly to achieve racial, housing and energy justice and ensure that everyone in this region has access to stable homes. We want those folks most impacted by housing insecurity to own, govern, and lead our area’s Community Land Trust.
Community land trusts (CLTs) are nonprofit organizations governed by a board of CLT residents, community members and public representatives that provide lasting community assets and shared equity homeownership opportunities for families and individuals.
The Southern Door Community Land Trusts is developing a strong foundation to serve local folks through community revitalization, primarily focusing on permanently affordable rental and cooperative housing projects.
The heart of the SDCLT will work towards the creation of safe, healthy homes that will remain permanently affordable for generations to come.
Fact: There are over 225 community land trusts in the United States! The creation of Land Trusts has increasingly become an important factor in developing viable solutions to the Nationwide issue of housing insecurity.
Over the last year the SDCLT has focused on building trust and leadership in Broome County through partnerships with the County Executives Office, Community Foundation of SCNY, and various local non-profit organizations.
As of Aug, 2022 the SDCLT has gained ownership of it's first property in collaboration with Broome County. Our first housing development is a 6 unit apartment building in Binghamton. The CLT will lead this project using an anti- displacement lens. Meaning, we aim to keep folks housed during rehabilitation or remodeling and ensuring their right to return home!
Sign up for regular update e-mails and learn all about our progress.
BEHIND THE SCENES
We believe in this community. And we take it you do too since you're here exploring.
Broome County has a housing crisis. Our friends, families, neighbors lack safe, healthy, and affordable housing.
Over the last few years, a number of housing justice initiatives have emerged in Broome County:
County Executive’s Safe Housing Task Force
The We Must Live Housing Committee Meeting
The Greater Binghamton Tiny Homes Project
In February 2019, representatives from these and other social justice projects joined together to explore a new grant opportunity announced by the NY Attorney General Tish James. With support from the Office of Broome County Executive Jason Garnar. This coalition of grassroots activists and housing justice advocates applied for a grant to support the creation of a community land trust in Broome.
Our application was focused on racial justice and included a number of creative programs to engage our neighborhoods and community in this effort. In October 2019, NY AG Tish James announced that nine communities and counties would receive grant awards to support their local community land trusts. Only one application seeking to start a new CLT was funded: ours, right here in Broome.