Executive Director Lydia Lowe, right, of the Chinatown Community Land Trust, stands with resident Meidan Lin outside of Lin's Oak Street home.
When the area was first settled nearly 200 years ago, “it was landfill, so it was kind of stinky,” Lowe said. “It was also near a rail yard. It was very undesirable at the time, and so the only people who would live here were the immigrants.” With this in mind, a group of activists got together in 2015 and formed the Chinatown Community Land Trust. The nonprofit's goal is to acquire properties to make some housing in the area permanently affordable.
Hickey said he had some initial misgivings about buying a place with this restriction, but in the end, he decided it was a fair tradeoff for being able to own a condo in downtown Boston. "There is no worrying about rent or moving following an eviction,” Lin said, adding that her family had gotten used to living in Chinatown."Moving somewhere else would be a big culture shock.”
According to the Schumacher Center, Massachusetts is home to 16 community land trusts — from Martha's Vineyard to Great Barrington — with more than a third sprouting up over the last decade.represents seven land trusts. Executive Director Meridith Levy said the aim is to preserve rental housing in areas hard hit by foreclosures, gentrification and evictions.
simonfrios We won't know until it's tried