Op-ed: Community land trusts are a bridge to affordable homeownership

Gov. Kathy Hochul sounded "an alarm bell that cannot be ignored" in her recent State of the State address: New York lost 300,000 residents from 2020 to 2021, representing the steepest population decline of any state in the nation.

Housing affordability continues to be a key catalyst for New York's population loss, especially for Black, Indigenous, people of color communities and low-to-moderate-income New Yorkers. Whether in rural communities or in the heart of our cities, many of our neighbors are grasping for solutions to gentrification. Longtime residents are being forced to move because of rising home prices and rents, and there is a growing realization that the dream of homeownership is out of reach for too many New Yorkers.