Connecticut Land Conservation Conference

Affordable housing organizations, such as community land trusts, and conservation land trusts each advance and protect the long-term, beneficial uses of land for public needs not met by market-based approaches. Affordable housing groups primarily focus on obtaining land for housing while conservation land trusts focus on land’s ecological, open space, scenic, agricultural, and/or recreational values. While the idea for these two movements to leverage their strengths and expand their effectiveness by working together has been suggested for several decades, collaborative efforts between affordable housing and land conservation organizations are only occurring.  Such collaboration is important with the intersecting challenges of climate change, affordable housing shortages, loss of biodiversity, and racial injustice. This session will review: why these groups should collaborate; the variety of ways collaboration can occur; how to build collaborative relationships based on principles of equity, learning, community needs, and complementary capacities; hurdles to collaboration; pathways to advancing collaboration; and examples of collaborative efforts.