{"id":55810,"date":"2019-10-06T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=55810"},"modified":"2020-08-07T14:02:34","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T17:02:34","slug":"the-growth-of-the-global-clt-movement-part-5-in-puerto-rico-a-favela-clt-gains-global-recognition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=55810","title":{"rendered":"The Growth of the Global CLT Movement, Part 5: In Puerto Rico, a Favela-CLT Gains Global Recognition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of New Communities Inc.<\/a>, the world\u2019s first\u00a0Community Land Trust<\/a>, and as planners and community members alike gather to celebrate October 2-5 at the\u00a0Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference 2019<\/a>\u00a0in Atlanta, Georgia, RioOnWatch issued a call for articles highlighting the current growth of the CLT movement worldwide. Contributors wrote in from around the world, with stories about the expansion of CLTs\u2014both in number and in approach\u2014in\u00a0Mississippi<\/a>, the\u00a0United Kingdom<\/a>,\u00a0Belgium<\/a>,\u00a0France<\/a>,\u00a0Puerto Rico,\u00a0Rio de Janeiro<\/a>, and Florida<\/a>. T<\/em>his varied series aims to disseminate news of the successes of the CLT model as it adapts to new times and circumstances, bringing greater attention to this innovative solution to guarantee the right to housing and community development, and its potential in resolving the global housing crisis.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s piece, co-authored by Patricia Basile, PhD in Constructed Environment from UVA and an independent scholar in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Priscilla Mayrink, Architecture and Urbanism professor at FAP-CE, Faculdade Para\u00edso do Cear\u00e1, describes the widespread recognition attained by the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a Community Land Trust<\/a>\u00a0in Puerto Rico.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

For more information on CLTs and their potential for Rio de Janeiro\u2019s favelas\u00a0click here for text<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here for video<\/a>. For more information on the history of the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a CLT, click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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In the early 2000s, the informal settlements lining the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a Canal in downtown San Juan, Puerto Rico, were among the first<\/a> in the world to organize and establish a Community Land Trust<\/a> to fight gentrification and the displacement of residents. Since its implementation, the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a Community Land Trust has received significant international attention, using this recognition strategically to tell their story and share the CLT model with other informal settlements<\/a> around the world.<\/p>\n

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An area with a history of removal and relocation threats, the eight neighborhoods surrounding the Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a Canal are today home to some 25,000 residents. Though residents enjoy some measure of infrastructure \u2014access to running water, paved roads, and electricity\u2014many houses still suffer from flooding and improper sanitation services. The combination of these factors creates a major risk for families, as canal flooding inundates the community with highly contaminated water.<\/p>\n

The communities surrounding the canal thus responded favorably when the government proposed a canal dredging project in the early 2000s. Residents worried, however, that they would be displaced from the area if the dredging of the canal were to take place. They had prior experience with eviction threats. And they know that their communities, originally settled before development in the area, are now located on land in central San Juan next to the financial district and thus prone to gentrification. The dredging process would raise land values, making the area highly attractive to developers.<\/p>\n

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In response to resident resistance, the technical team in charge of the dredging works held a series of meetings with residents, where said concerns were voiced, as were the possibilities for addressing the risk via public policy. The goal was to ensure that the dredging could be undertaken without threatening families with eviction<\/a>. What began as an infrastructure project for the canal became a broad local development plan, leading to the creation of the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a CLT<\/a>, or Fideicomiso de la Tierra<\/em>, along with the ENLACE<\/a> project and the Group of Eight Communities (G-8).<\/p>\n

From 2002 to 2004, the Ca\u00f1o CLT<\/a> was established to regularize ownership of land and protect the Ca\u00f1o’s low-income residents from eviction and gentrification. The process of community organization brought about a new law that recognized the G-8 as an organization that represents the eight communities, as well as creating the ENLACE project<\/a>\u2014a public, limited-term company to implement the District Development Plan elaborated by the community, using public resources and in partnership with residents\u2014and officially recognizing and transferring land ownership to the Ca\u00f1o Mart\u00edn Pe\u00f1a CLT. The creation of the CLT altered the ownership of the land on which the communities are located: public lands fell under the ownership of the Ca\u00f1o CLT, which is managed by residents collectively and now administers their lands. Thus, they have removed the lands for perpetuity from the speculative real estate market. The Ca\u00f1o CLT includes 2,000 low-income families (not all families in the neighborhoods participate), who gained access to housing through the regularization of surface rights on top of their collective lands, thanks to concentrated collective mobilization.<\/p>\n

International Recognition<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Over ten years after their founding and once their CLT model had established its success, the Ca\u00f1o CLT received the World Habitat Award in 2015<\/a>. Organized by the World Habitat international charity in partnership with\u00a0UN-Habitat<\/a>, the award highlights innovative and replicable housing solutions across the world, and includes both a \u00a310,000 prize and the opportunity to share recipient experiences with organizations from seven different countries in a peer exchange event<\/a>. This was one of the first opportunities the Ca\u00f1o CLT group had to share their model with other housing initiatives around the world.<\/p>\n