Upworthy.com
Sarah Watts
Finally, in “Roses and Thorns,” director Milena Mikael-Debass shows viewers how community land trusts, or CLTs, can improve access to housing in Lynchburg, VA.
A CLT, the film explains, is a regionally-based nonprofit organization that acquires land, holds it in a trust, and then leases out the land for home-building, farming, and more. CLTs were first created in 1969 as a response to segregation under Jim Crow laws, allowing black farmers to gain equal access to farmland and black families to secure affordable housing. These trusts continue to help people like Ashleigh Bowman, a single mom of three kids, participate in home ownership when they normally would not be able to access it. Home ownership through CLTs also help marginalized communities build generational wealth.
