Homes & Hands - Community Land Trusts in Action

Three low-income communities find new ways to develop permanently affordable housing.
by
Debra Chasnoff
Helen Cohen
Kate Stilley Steiner
2001
46 mins

Three tenacious and visionary communities deliver the American dream of owning a home to low-income residents.

The most effective and inspiring visual portrayal of community land trusts that we have. It is widely used by CLT activists, housing professionals, and community organizers to educate people about the model and to spur the creation of new CLTs around the country.
John Emmeus Davis
Dean of National Community Land Trust Academy

Synopsis

It has been over 40 years since leaders of the southern civil rights movement formed the first community land trust to secure access to land for African-Americans. This equitable and sustainable model of affordable housing and community development has since become a critical tool in preventing rampant foreclosures and land price speculation while stimulating revitalization without gentrification.

Through the personal stories of community activists in Durham, North Carolina, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Burlington, Vermont, audiences are compelled to rethink their assumptions about housing and community development in the United States.

Reviews
The principles embodied in community land trusts and brought to life in this powerful film are lessons that should be incorporated into all federal, state and municipal housing initiatives.
Rachel B. Bratt
Chair of Department of Urban and Environmental Policy, Tufts University
We frequently show Homes & Hands to groups of neighborhood residents and find it never fails to move and inspire people who tend to feel disenfranchised and left out of the planning process. They see that they can actually take matters into their own hands and have an impact on their communities.
Hank Herrera
Northeast Neighborhood Alliance Community Land Corporation
Highly Recommended. Groups thinking about forming a community land trust will want this video. Moreover, this interesting video would be of value to public library collections, particularly in urban environments. In addition, academic libraries will find this video valuable for urban planning classes.
Charles H. Burkart
MC Journal: The Journal for Academic Media Librarianship
An extraordinarily informative and inspiring film that presents a clear and vivid description of how land trusts work and why they are an attractive mechanism for providing affordable housing and developing strong communities. A terrific teaching resource for courses in urban studies, housing and community development.
William M. Rohe
Department of City and Regional Planning, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This excellent video...is ideal for nonprofits, community planners and housing lenders hoping to provide affordable housing today and assure that such housing remains affordable years from now.
Shelterforce: The Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Building
Shelterforce: The Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Building
A refreshingly optimistic view of what nonprofit and community groups can do to stabilize housing costs, develop local leadership and provide homeownership to residents in low-income neighborhoods.
Bish Sanyal
Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Awards and Screenings
CINE Golden Eagle
Silver Apple, National Educational Video Festival
Certificate of Creative Excellence, U.S. International Film and Video Festival

Features and Languages

Film Features

  • Closed Captioning

Promotional Material

Promotional Stills

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