We will help people who are unhoused and housing insecure in the Twin Cities to secure housing, self-determination, and a center of mutual aid by forming a community land trust (CLT) to acquire land in Minneapolis and support the capacity to build radically affordable legal dwellings.
We undertake this endeavor in response to the violent evictions conducted by the city of Minneapolis. In particular, unhoused people had built strong communities on unused public land listed as property of the “Office of Community Planning and Economic Development”, and rather than negotiate to do either of those things CPED led the city-wide policy of destruction.
The Gertrude Brown CLT will be led by a board of directors comprised of former residents of the razed Near North encampment, currently unhoused individuals who intend to live on the land, and representatives from a coalition of autonomous mutual aid organizations that are standing in solidarity with their unhoused neighbors against the continued violence visited on them by the City of Minneapolis’ Public Works, Park Police, and MPD. As a cooperative the board of the organization will be elected by its members: people living on CLT land and unhoused people seeking to live on CLT land. GBCLT will maintain at a minimum one currently or previously unhoused community member on the board of directors to every housed member of the board.
Changes to zoning law championed by unhoused organizers and allies allow for intentional community cluster developments of 30 microhomes plus a common building on lots of 10,000 square feet or more. We plan to build an intentional community in accordance with recent zoning law, consisting of innovating affordable ways for unhoused people to legally build their own housing in collaboration with architects and construction professionals. We intend to develop a model which can be replicated on multiple lots of public or otherwise affordable land.
The Gertrude Brown CLT envisions that residents of the intentional community will have the option of permanent or temporary residence in microhomes, with the option of purchasing their microhome under the agreement that homes are not intended to be sold for significant profit, and may be priced at $1/home or less.
The community will be self-sustaining with ongoing mutual aid support, including but not limited to; a community garden facilitated by residents, educational workshops to promote autonomous self-defense and deescalation training hosted by Atlas Defense, wound care kit distribution and medic care facilitated by Freedom Street Health, consistent laundry service provided by The People’s Laundry, resource-share workshops, food-share, and most importantly, no cost of living on the land.