Land trust pitched as a way to increase attainable housing
October 1, 2026 at 10:21 AM
A new approach to getting more people in homes of their own seeks to fill a gap between the people who are struggling the most and those ready to move into more conventional, market-based housing.
John Armstrong presented to Fort Erie councillors at the Monday, September 28 meeting, promoting the idea of the Community Land Trust of Niagara. The group has been making the tour of Niagara councils, pitching the model as a way to increase the amount of “attainable housing” in Fort Erie and the Niagara region.
Land trusts can be used for a variety of reasons, and act as an entity to manage properties.
“It’s a non-profit corporation created to acquire and hold land for a community, in perpetuity, in trust. And in our case it’s for affordable housing,” Armstrong said. “What you can think of the land trust as is a non-market housing developer.”
However, he specified that the focus for the Community Land Trust of Niagara wouldn’t be on the furthest end of the spectrum where other organizations like Niagara Regional Housing (NRH) specialize.
Instead, his group plans to focus on people whose situations have improved to the point where they no longer need full subsidized housing and other supports but who aren’t quite ready for full market housing.
“The place where the land trust really wants to sit is at that affordable-attainable level,” he said, saying the trust would focus on homes that are at around 80 per cent of the median market rent for a municipality.
With lengthy wait times at NRH, Fort Erie has among the shortest at four years for a two-bedroom unit. Armstrong said a successful trust could relieve some of that burden by getting residents into new housing to free up space for those who truly need it.
“A number of those people, their economic circumstances change and they don’t need the kind of housing that they have with Niagara Regional Housing. Those are success stories,” Armstrong said. “But the problem is they have no place to go. So that’s the gap the community land trust is filling. It’s giving those people a place to go.”
The land trust idea is relatively new, Armstrong said, with around 50 such land trusts in the country, working with governments, developers, community groups, financial institutions and other organizations. He likened the model to how organizations such as the Niagara Community Foundation were viewed a quarter century ago.
“We feel strongly that we can make the Community Land Trust of Niagara to affordable housing what the Niagara Community Foundation is to endowments,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong said the focus for the trust is on acquiring or building properties and then working with housing providers to operate the facilities. He said there are many properties owned by other non-profits and faith groups that could be leveraged to build housing.
The Niagara trust is currently working on its first project, a partnership with Second Story Community Homes and Services, which will see 84 units built in Welland. And true to the land trust’s vision, Second Story is in charge of about 40 deeply affordable units, while the land trust will focus mostly on attainable units.
For more information on the trust, visit cltniagara.ca.
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About The Author
Luke Edwards
Luke Edwards is a longtime Niagara community journalist who has covered a variety of beats, including business, agriculture, the wine industry and politics. When not writing, there's a good chance he can be found at a baseball diamond or curling rink.
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