ABOUT
The Uniondale Community Land Trust, Inc. is a community-based non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation committed to revitalization and empowerment in Uniondale, New York.
The Uniondale Community Land Trust sees the land trust model as a powerful, long-term community development strategy that would help revitalize housing, strengthen participation, shore up household (leaseholder) assets and budgets, and stabilize the local economy and institutions.
Our vision is to create a group of homes throughout Uniondale that can provide opportunities for households to build wealth, stabilize the community and in the process contribute to community empowerment.
U-CLT uses the land trust model to create sustainably affordable homes (affordable at 50-80% of Nassau County’s AMI) throughz grassroots, community-led development. We focus on owner-occupied homes, including those left behind by the foreclosure crisis, turning vacancy and abandonment into stable homeownership and economic opportunity.
WHY UNIONDALE?
Uniondale received a disproportionate number of subprime loans during the housing boom. More than half of the loans originated between 2005 and 2006 were high-rate, and the community has faced high levels of foreclosures, REO vacancies, and post-crash speculative investment. A successful CLT would ensure that the community retains affordable housing stock. Our model could also provide opportunities for apprenticeships and internships (i.e., in the renovation stage), preparing the local workforce for job openings associated with local development projects. In short, the CLT offers a means of rehabilitating vacancies into permanently-affordable, owner-occupied housing, while augmenting community control over the development process and its effects.