Protecting Renters: A Somerville Community Land Trust Appreciation Post
Displacement is one of the most urgent problems facing Somerville today. Longtime residents are being pushed out as rents rise and landlords sell buildings to investors. Working families, multi-generation Somerville residents, seniors, immigrants, and low-income tenants are losing their homes and their communities.
We face a regional housing crisis, and Somerville is a desirable place to live due in part to its proximity to jobs and education. Change is inevitable, so we must embrace it. What we cannot embrace is displacement. Our renters are part of our community too—I was one when I first moved here. I understand how tough it can be to find a place and how it can sometimes be even harder to keep it.
If we want to stop displacement, we need stronger tools. One of those tools is the community land trust (CLT). The good news is that Somerville already has one, the Somerville Community Land Trust, but it’s still small. We need to strengthen it, expand it, and give it real political and financial support.
On the eve of the Somerville CLT hopefully getting their most ambitious project approved by the Land Use Committee at Medford and Walnut St (a 50 unit housing project!), I want to write a bit about CLTs.
What Is a Community Land Trust?
A community land trust is a nonprofit that owns land permanently for the public good. Homes or businesses on that land can be sold or rented, but the land stays with the trust. This keeps prices stable and prevents speculation.
Most importantly, CLTs are governed by residents and community members, not investors or developers. The interests of the land trust are aligned with the interests of the people living here.
There are successful models we can learn from:
Chinatown Community Land Trust: grassroots, resident-led land trust formed to protect Boston’s Chinatown from intense displacement pressures caused by luxury development.
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (Roxbury): a grassroots effort that turned vacant land into permanently affordable housing and community space (vacant land is something we have too much of considering how densely populated we are).
Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust: Focused on tenant-controlled, permanently affordable housing. They partner with the City of Boston to acquire and stabilize housing for low-income residents—working with tenant groups to prevent displacement.
My deep hope is that the Somerville CLT has the chance to build on these examples.
What Somerville Can Do
Here’s what I will fight for as a city councilor to help prevent displacement:
✅ Help find funding for the Somerville CLT so it can acquire land.
✅ Empower SCLT to acquire vacant land for permanent affordable use.
✅ Ensure contributions from large development projects like SomerNova and Copper Mills get to the SCLT to grow their reach.
✅ Strengthen tenant protections like the right of first refusal, eviction protections and, just-cause policies, and rent stabilization to keep people housed right now, while we build long-term solutions.
Why This Matters
The whole Greater Boston region has fallen far behind when it comes to building housing. We need more housing of all types. Community land trusts offer a way to take over and build more housing outside of a speculative market and put it under community control. They help anchor people in place, stop the cycle of displacement, and let neighborhoods plan for their own future.
Join Us
I’m running for Somerville City Council at-large because I believe housing is a human right and that stopping displacement of our residents, businesses, and artists needs to be a top priority.
If you agree, here’s how you can help:
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Get involved with the Somerville CLT.
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Let’s make Somerville a city where people can stay and thrive — not a city where they’re forced out.
Part of the campaign to elect Jon Link to Somerville City Council At-Large