Updates

Long Beach Gives is tomorrow! Together, we have raised over two thirds of our campaign goal. 

And thanks to the generous support from Self-Help Federal Credit Union, Self-Help Ventures, and an anonymous donor, we now have $12,500 in matching funds. This means your donations go 4 times further: every $1 donated is matched with $3 more!

We’re excited to announce that Long Beach CLT is participating in Long Beach Gives for the first time, and we’re raising support for a first-of-its-kind housing opportunity in our city.

LBCLT is working to acquire a 28-unit building in North Long Beach and move it toward permanently affordable, community-led housing. This would be the first CLT property of its kind in Long Beach and an important step toward creating homes that can stay affordable for generations.

This summer has expanded the ways we learn and build together. Your input at Monthly Meetings has guided the opportunities to deepen our relationship to Long Beach, share practical skills, and learn from one another. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to:

Thank you to everyone who joined us last month for our first anniversary of monthly meetings! What a joy and privilege to mark a full year of community, learning, and growing together. Last meeting, we dug into what belonging and stewardship can look like in our neighborhoods and celebrated our one-year milestone through art, conversation, and scoops of ice cream.

April has arrived, and we’re still riding the energy of an incredible season of gathering, learning, and growing together!

This past month, we held our Annual Meeting! What a gift it was to see so many of you in one room, sharing food, stories, and a collective sense of purpose.

As we step into February, we carry with us the resilience of our neighbors on screen and the stories shared from our work here in Long Beach and from CLTs across the region. Scroll down for upcoming events where we’ll roll up our sleeves together!

This month’s meeting was a beautiful reminder of the “why” behind our collective work toward community ownership. It was inspiring to see everyone engage so thoughtfully in the activities. It’s in these conversations that we move beyond theory and begin to weave the tangible fabric of a just future for Long Beach, a future where housing is a right for all.

As we enter November, we’re reflecting on our shared relationship to land and tapping into the deeper meaning of this for the upcoming monthly meeting. Our region carries deep histories of care, displacement, resilience, and community, which are themes that shape the work we do together. In this context, our CLT work is a powerful act of re-imagination by redefining a way of living that centers collective stewardship, stability, and belonging. 

Learn about more opportunities to connect, including the launch of a 4-Part Nature Walk series and our October’s monthly meeting Tuesday, October 21st. We also thank everyone who attended our Downtown Long Beach Community Walk, in partnership with the Black Neighborhood Tenant Council, a program of LiBRE and Black Lives Matter Long Beach. It was great to be in community with everyone!

We’re grateful for your support in our mission for affordable housing in Long Beach. A recap from August’s meeting: ORALE shared insights on protecting our immigrant community. Looking ahead, we’re excited to host Gabrielino/Tongva community leader, Virginia Carmelo, on September 16th and invite you to future community events.

Let’s connect this August! We’ve moved our Monthly Meeting to Thursday, August 21st and are hosting our first-ever Social Hour––Jazz Night at GoodTime on Thursday, August 28th. These are opportunities to deepen your connection to the work and celebrate the community making it happen.

“The Long Beach Community Land Trust, founded in 2023, advances this vision for community-led, permanently affordable housing, and challenges the displacement driven by speculative corporate developments. Continued support will turn this groundwork into permanently secure housing for generations to come, organizers added.”

“Local organizations like Long Beach Community Land Trust (CLT) are working towards creating new opportunities for affordable homeownership and stewarding land and housing, as a community.”

In July, we dug deep into Long Beach’s architectural roots and confronted how urban design has fueled inequity. But more importantly, we dreamed big and saw how Community Land Trusts can rewrite the story. Relive the moments from our gathering and get ready to build momentum with us in August!

How does architecture shape our community’s story? 🏛️ Join us for this month’s CLT meeting to explore inclusive design and how we can reclaim development to deepen our connection to our community. Hosted by experts at Studio One Eleven.

Let’s talk about the future of our city’s design! ✨Join LBCLT this month for a deep dive into architecture, inclusive spaces, and how we reclaim development to prevent displacement. Hosted by experts at Studio One Eleven, this meeting is your opportunity to learn how community land trusts secure affordable housing and create welcoming environments for all.

Join us this month as we dive into Social Housing—a people-first system where housing is permanently affordable and off the for-profit market. Together, we’ll be learning how CLTs are vital to this movement and how we can advocate for green spaces and community control. 

A huge thank you to everyone who made our Second Annual Member Meeting so powerful! Together, we celebrated major milestones, updated our bylaws, and shared the inspiring history of CLTs. Now, let’s keep that momentum going! We’re thrilled to launch monthly member meetings. It’s a new space to connect, learn, and guide the future of housing in Long Beach. You’re invited to our first one on May 20 to meet Diana Saavedra, our new Membership Coordinator, and help shape what’s next

“The Long Beach, California, city council awarded $800,000 to a local nonprofit to create a new CLT, tentatively named Housing for All Long Beach CLT.”

“Once concentrated in the Bay Area and LA, community land trusts are spreading to other areas where the cost of living is rising. The Bakersfield City Council voted last year to establish a community land trust; Irvine already has one and Long Beach is considering it.”

“Long Beach will give $800,000 to a local nonprofit that will launch a pilot land trust program to identify and buy properties on which to create affordable housing.”

“As affordable housing becomes more and more scarce across the state, a growing movement of community land trusts could be a piece of the solution, and through a new initiative spearheaded by Long Beach Residents Empowered, or LiBRE, a tenants advocacy organization, Long Beach could be seeing its first community land trust in the coming years.”