Springfield City of Homes ProjectRebuilding from the Community Up

Developed for

Arise for Social JusticeTom Taaffe, PhD

AJ Juarez

Oct 29, 2014

Table of contents

Building a Land Trust in Springfield MA................................................................................... ..1What is a Community Land Trust?.............................................................................................. .2Overview of Housing, Built Environment and Socioeconomic Conditions in Springfield MA.. .4Springfield Demographics at a Glance......................................................................................... 5Why Arise for Social Justice?....................................................................................................... 7Project Overview: Community Benefit and Rationale for Action.................................................9Membership, Board Construction and Land Trust Incorporation................................................. 9Land Trust as Housing, Economic Development and Community Empowerment.....................11Land Trust as Catalyst for a Green, Sustainable, Affordable Springfield....................................11Phase One: Community Needs Assessment and Capacity Building............................................12Phase Two: Building Projects......................................................................................................13Phase Three: Developing the Communities.................................................................................14Land Trusts, Economic Development and Worker Cooperatives................................................15Next Steps....................................................................................................................................17Building a Better Community from the Ground Up....................................................................18Appendices...................................................................................................................................19

Timeline of Land Trust Development Activities..................................................................202012 Springfield Demographic, Housing and Socioeconomic Statistics.............................22

Springfield City of Homes ProjectBuilding a Land Trust in Springfield MA

The Springfield City of Homes Project is being organized by Arise for Social Justice in response to a significant housing crisis in Springfield, Massachusetts, with the support and technical guidance of Homes for All's Right to the city Campaign and Dudley Street Initiatives, This project is further supported by a research grant from Sociological Initiatives Foundation, to identify housing conditions and needs and to develop community-driven recommendations and the social infrastructure to advance those concerns.

Once known as the ‘city of homes,’ several decades of post-industrial decline, growing poverty, high foreclosure rates (2nd highest in New England), economic depression, urban blight and home-destroying extreme weather events have created a low-income housing crisis in Springfield MA.

To address these problems, we have embarked on a two year, needs assessment and community capacity building project to develop neighborhood planning groups and a city-wide coalition to addresshousing, urban blight, community and economic development concerns. This effort – the Springfield City of Homes Project – will to assess community needs, identify potential sites, develop plans and provide the necessary groundwork to create an urban land trust with neighborhood level infrastructure to support the development of low-income housing and address community development needs.

To ensure local control of decisions and resources, this project is being designed as a community-controlled 501(c)(3), with resident and community representation on its board and committees, as well as community vetting practices for all major decisions. This project recognizes that lack of stable and affordable housing is a symptom of economic need, often coupled with other disparities, in the realms of employment, health, education and quality of life. This project further recognizes that empowering communities to address and solve their own problems is the best way to generate sustainable, positive change.

We will develop – in collaboration with affected residents, churches, community groups and responsible agencies – an urban land trust, local neighborhood planning groups, worker cooperatives and development agencies to address the low-income housing crisis, urban blight, economic and community development concerns in Springfield, Massachusetts. This trust and its coalition partners, will

Collaborate with affected residents, advocates, churches, planning and civic organizations to produce community-supported solutions;

Review resources, develop plans, coalition support and seek funding Acquire properties and develop them in accordance with community-approved plans Develop low-income housing, including resident-owned, rental and transitional housing. Develop economic opportunity for residents and community members, including worker

cooperatives Provide education and opportunities for residents and community members; Address urban blight issues and infrastructural community needs; including youth and

community centers and programming Address health and sociocultural disparities and needs;

To maximize impact, we will concentrate our work in two poor, blighted communities: Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park.

This project begins with the premise that those communities affected by a problem have an expertise unique to their circumstances and the greatest incentive to resolve the problem. By mobilizingaffected communities, documenting their conditions and needs, educating and organizing them in common cause to address their prioritized concerns and creating the space for them to propose solutions, this project will provide the goals, proposals and political will to address a housing crisis thatis growing worse by the day.

What is a Community Land Trust?

A community land trust (CLT) is a nonprofit, community-based organization that works to provide perpetually affordable home ownership opportunities and develop community assets, usually under the direction of the community that controls the trust. In practical terms, CLT acquires land and removes it from the speculative, for-profit, real estate market and places it in the hands of the community that controls the trust for development as they see fit.

Land trusts are voting membership organizations, usually led by boards that have robust resident and community membership. Community-led planning precedes community development and land trusts give communities greater power to develop their neighborhoods as they see fit.

While community land trusts are best known for their ability to create permanently affordable home ownership opportunities, they can also be used to develop land and resources for a wide variety of purposes, including rental housing, supportive living facilities, recreational centers, food farms, schools, community centers, youth centers, cooperative businesses, commercial shopping centers, business incubators, clinics, libraries, green spaces and even transportation systems, as needed and desired by the community that controls the trust.

Land trusts - and the institutions built around them - can also serve as economic development engines, developing businesses, micro-business opportunities and worker cooperatives. By grounding the planning process at the neighborhood level, land trusts don't simply benefit benefit communities, they give them the tools to significantly impact their neighborhood's development. Land trusts can transform urban blight and the violent effects of poverty, while empowering poor communities to take control over their neighborhoods, their lives and their fates.

Land trusts can be most effective if they found trust-related activity on sustainable, holistic and regenerative economic principles and focus attention to three critical components – affordable housing, grassroots economic development and quality of life improvements (education, needed services, recreation). At the heart of the land trust concept is creating sustainable and affordable living conditionsfor low-income people and the generations that will follow.

While land trust financial and institutional relationships can become quite complex, much of theeconomic activity follows the usual rules of private sector economics, augmented by financial opportunities designed for low-income housing and development and cooperative strategies that ensure more egalitarian distribution of profits. .

Where land trusts differ from other home or community development projects in the terms of land tenure. While the trust owns the land – and sometimes the building – private owners may own thebuilding itself. This relationship is managed through a ground lease, typically for 99 years. In land trust home owner development projects, the homeowner buys the house, but leases the land it sits on from the land trust (99-year ground lease). Provisions are usually invested in the deed contract to control the increasing resale value.

For instance: a house developed by the land trust is sold for $80,000. That price has been discounted from the true cost of construction through tax credits, subsidies and banking programs intended to facilitate low-income home owning and development. That sale comes with scheduled step-increases to the resale price, so that in ten years, it may be sold for $90,000, plus the cost of any improvements. Since the increasing value of the home is restricted, it is not impacted by market forces. Using a flat, step-increase pricing model, land trust homes may become even more affordable over time, as market rates tend to rise faster and higher than land trust properties.

Similarly, a land trust may lease land or a building to a developer, while retaining control over its purposes. This allows the community to participate in the development and reuse of properties in their neighborhood and designate them toward those purposes that serve their interests. Those purposes may be a school, community center, youth facilities, business center or community garden. The potential is limited only by the community's imagination and the practical realities of development.

EF-4 Tornado blew through Springfield Massachusetts and neighboring towns on June 1, 2011, killing one person, injuring hundreds of others, displacing thousands of people, destroying over 500 buildings in Springfield and over 20,000 trees and causing over 140 billion dollars in damage region-wide.

Upper Metro Center/Worthington St gas explosion, November 23, 2012. 18 injured, destroyed one building, damaged twelve others and blew out windows in dozens of buildings. This incident occurred in a neighborhood of interest to this project.

We believe the Springfield City of Homes Land Trust model can become a powerful tool for affordable housing, healthier, happier and more sustainable communities and as an engine for equitably shared economic growth. One that can empower neighborhoods take charge of their fates, reshape them to better enhance their lives, stabilize their living conditions and improve their material fate.

Overview of Housing, Built Environment and Socioeconomic Conditions in Springfield Massachusetts

Once known as the ‘city of homes,’ poverty, high foreclosure rates, a decade of municipal budget cuts, urban blight and home-destroying extreme weather events have created a housing crisis in Springfield MA. Combined with long-term economic decline, growing poverty and the intensifying effects of social isolation for Springfield's majority minority populations, the city is facing a profound low-income housing crisis and an on-going economic depression, Less than 50% of Springfield's working age (18-64) civilian population worked, even for an hour a week at any wage in 2012.1 43% ofSpringfield households earn less than $25,000 a year,2 while living costs run 20% higher than national averages. This crisis has been made profoundly worse by extreme weather events and the opposition ofSpringfield’s current mayor to building new low-income housing. Since the economy collapsed in 2008, Springfield home ownership has declined from 51% to 47%.

Over 6,300 housing units currently lie vacant in Springfield. along with hundreds of abandoned factories. Over 10% of Springfield housing units are currently vacant and vacancy rates in the targeted neighborhoods range between 12-19% (see Table 1) Abandoned housing is the legacy of one of the highest foreclosure rates in New England. Compounding that problem has been increased land speculation and warehousing, adding to blighted conditions in Springfield. According to an informed source knowledgeable on housing sales, foreign owners of Springfield property, including Mideastern and Chinese speculators, is a growing trend.

Compounding these problems has been the impact of of three extreme environmental disasters in 2011 – including the June EF-4 tornado, Hurricane Irene and a freak October nor’easter – that devastated several neighborhoods, dispossessed thousands of people, destroyed infrastructure and knocked out power for weeks at a time. Three hundred and sixty homes were lost in the storms, most ofthem low income residences. Rents rose 20% following those extreme weather events.

More recently, the city has demolished at least two hundred and fifty low-income housing units in the communities considered in this study, and refuses to build new low-income housing, include it infuture planning or participate in statewide incentive programs to address the problem. Homelessness is a serious crisis that has destabilized whole neighborhoods. Responsible agencies have not been forthcoming with figures, but the numbers of homeless coming to Arise for assistance indicated a worsening of the problem. The city does not have the capacity to address its own housing needs without serious planning, reform and targeted economic investment.

The affordable housing crisis was recognized in a recent report by the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing; June 2013). While the report advanced public understandings of the crisis, by linking racial segregation, economic access, lack of opportunity and insufficient public transportation to the burgeoning housing crisis, the current Springfield Mayor has repeated stated his opposition to new low-income housing, while shutting down low income housing and encouraging sending Springfield's homeless to neighboring cities, causing additional trauma, economic hardship and isolation from family and social support networks.

1 2012 US Census American Community Survey Census Tract: 2 Ibid

Springfield Demographics at a Glance :

Springfield Population: 153,552 (2010 US Census) Ethnic Demographics: Springfield is a ‘majority-minority’ city. White: 34%, Black 23% ,

Latino 42.7%, Asian 1.9% , Native American 1.3% Non-English Speaking: While only 16% of Springfield’s residents are foreign-born, 41% of

the households speak a language other than English. Vulnerable Populations by Age: 31% under 20. 11% over 65. These populations are at greater

risk from poor housing conditions, economic stress and homelessness, facing greater health, economic and environmental hazards than the general population.

Low Median Household Income: Springfield's median household income is 32% lower than the national median and 46% below Massachusetts median household income. For most of the neighborhoods targeted in this project, median household income are between 59% to 72% lower than Massachusetts household median incomes.

Majority Female-led Households: 51% of all households in Springfield are led by single mothers.

Unemployment: According to the US Census, only 48.9% of Springfield's working age (18-64)civilian population worked, for even an hour a week at any wage in 2012. By comparison, 57.5% of US and 62.8% of Massachusetts working age populations we employed, at least part time. Four of the neighborhoods targeted in this project have employment rates below 40% andall are below Springfield's employment rate.

Out-of-Town Commuters Dominate Local Employment: According to Federal Reserve, 47%of all those employed in Springfield live outside the city.

Lack of Youth Opportunity: There are widespread reports of summer youth unemployment nearing 90% in some neighborhoods. Few community and youth centers remain, and there is insufficient summer youth programming.

City-wide Poverty: 42.5% of all Springfield household have incomes below 25,000, only 38% of Massachusetts median household income.

Half the Children Live in Extreme Poverty: 48.3% of children under 18 and 34% of all residents live in extreme poverty (below 125% of US poverty threshold)

High Cost of living: Springfield's cost of living is 20% higher than the national average, putting greater stress on low-income people.

Extreme Racial Segregation: 74% of all African Americans and 56% of all Latinos in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin Counties live in Springfield City. 81% of these communities live either in Springfield or in neighboring Holyoke, making the Pioneer Valley one of the most racially segregated regions in the US.

High Health Disparities: Springfield has among the highest poverty-driven health disparities in the state and/or nation, including infant mortality, diabetes, asthma, hypertension, premature death, HIV, auto and gun related injuries.

Housing Crisis: Springfield has lost hundreds - if not thousands - of low-income homes since the economy crashed. Springfield had the second highest foreclosure rate in the state since the economy crashed in 2008, driven by racially discriminatory loan practices. Hundreds more homes have been lost due to tornado, foreclosure, demolition or abandonment. The demand for emergency and shelter housing has been twice the funded capacity, since the economy crashed.

High Vacancy Rates – 1 out of 10 housing units are empty in Springfield. In some neighborhoods – including those targeted with this project – As many as 1 out of 5 housing units are currently empty.

Rainville Apartments

With help from a wide variety of partners –including HAP Housing and the City of Springfield, Arise for Social Justice was able to acquire and develop the Rainville Hotel as 48 units of low income single occupancy apartments for those transitioning out of homelessness. The Rainville opened in 1997 as a not-for-profitinstitution with resident representation on its board.

The Lido

The Lido now closed and in tax arrears, would provide a great space forcommunity events, cultivating the localmusic and arts scene and providing income generating activities (weddings,receptions, etc.) that can support community-based programming. It sits at the corner of several blocks worth of abandoned buildings, factories and empty lots, but within 4 blocks of MainStreet and nearby downtown entertainment district. This is property is in the Rainville neighborhood and could be developed to provide employment, cultural programming andas an arts incubator for the community.

Why Arise for Social Justice?

Arise’s historic leadership onhousing, the foreclosure crisis,environmental justice and the needs ofthe poor, the high traffic our open-doorhousing advocacy program generates, ourregional network of housing and povertyally groups and our outstanding recordfor fostering concrete change, makesArise an ideal agent for communityorganizing around housing and relatedissues. The Springfield City of HomesProject is long term effort by Arise forSocial Justice and its allies to establishcommunity land trusts in Springfield.

For twenty eight years, Arise forSocial Justice has been defending theinterests of the poor and forgotten inSpringfield: Whether to organize the poorto defend their interests or to help thosein need when they come to our door in danger, Arise has been on the front lines of poverty issues, sinceit was founded by a group of welfare mothers in 1985, organizing the residents of Springfield on housing, homelessness, criminal justice, welfare rights and environmental justice. Some of our achievements include:

Bought and renovated Rainville Hotel as 48 affordable apartments for single people leaving homelessness

Built statewide coalition to successfully change state and local laws to allow needle exchange programs

Organized a tent city for homeless people and forced changes in homelessness policies Won ballot initiative (72,4%) to change elections from all at-large to at-large/ward

representation, ending a 48 year old racist electoral system in Springfield. Fall 2013, Springfield elected its first majority-minority government.

Stopped the construction of a biomass plant, planned for Springfield Recently got the city's biggest polluter, Solutia, to convert from coal to natural gas Helped pass anti-foreclosure reforms that raise the cost and responsibility of banks

holding mortgages in Springfield Currently engaged with Springfield City Council and Green Commission to develop

climate change action plan, consistent with environmental justice concerns. In first year of two-year campaign to have cameras mounted on all police vehicles and

uniforms. Collaborating with Universal Church of Christ to pass Innocence Commission

legislation to address over 40,000 cases of evidence tainted in the state-wide drug lab scandal.

Expansion of shelters to address rising homelessness; increased funding for social services.

Working with National Lawyer's Guild to provide legal education in community, including 'know your rights', cannabis and tenant law trainings.

In addition to our organizing, advocacy and community work, we also provide walk-in, peer-to-peer advocacy for anyone who seeks our assistance. Between twenty five and a hundred and fifty people a week (depending on the season) seek Arise's assistance with a wide variety of issues, including housing; health, mental health, legal and other resources; VA, welfare, SSI,; child custody; domestic abuse; CORI and criminal justice issues. This work deepens our knowledge of affected communities and crises, regenerates low-income participation in Arise, focuses our organization more effectively on low income agendas and informs our campaigns and goals, including this project. The legacy of Arise's history brings great grassroots legitimacy and organizing power to this project. Our previous experience transforming a derelict hotel into affordable housing prepares us well for the challenges that lie ahead. This project sits at the cross-section of Arise for Social Justice concerns – housing/homelessness, poverty, environmental injustice and community blight- and offers Arise and the communities it serves the opportunity to solve social problems for themselves, instead of waiting for government or city leaders to act. Our productive relationship with City Council tempers the power of the Mayor's office to seek only market-rate housing solutions, as does the sad state of Springfield's built environment, vacant housing stuck and still depressed real estate market.

Arise is the leading agent of change in Springfield on climate change and environmental justice issues. Arise led the struggle to stop a biomass plant from being built in a residential area of Springfield, got the largest polluter (Solutia) to stop burning coal and got Springfield Public Schools to enforce anti-idling laws in front of school buildings. Arise co-hosted Springfield's first Climate Justice Conference September 26, 2013, where 260 participants identified healthy, affordable and sustainable housing development, more accessible, affordable and available intercity public transportation, green economic development and a Climate Action Plan for Springfield as the top climate justice priorities for Springfield Massachusetts.

Project OverviewCommunity Benefit and Rationale for Action

This project’s central premise is that those most affected by unaffordable housing, poverty and urban blight have an expertise unique to their position. Since they are also the most vested in solving those problems, their participation in all phases will enhance expert understanding and ground problem-solving within a motivated population. We will combine collective data collection and analysis with community engagement and capacity building strategies to address the problem of housing. By mixing first-hand housing crisis experiences (including life histories and economic data), site inspections and a review of existing data and planning efforts, we can provide an informed baselinefor neighborhood level discussions.

By shifting the relations of power in the planning process from elite environments to the communities most affected, by involving the affected community in all phases of research, analysis anddecision-making, we can more effectively develop and disseminate practical knowledge and understanding at the base of society, build consensus around solutions, develop the coalitions and civic structures necessary make those solutions real.

By positioning expertise in support of community-driven solutions, this project reverses the roleof the expert and structures them within – rather than ‘in charge’ – of the planning process. Despite our innovation on the planning process, this proposal is consistent with the city-endorsed, Rebuild Springfield planning recommendation that neighborhood-level planning groups be formed to address the significant built environment problems, sustainability and the housing crisis in Springfield.

In practical terms, this project combines action research strategies to identify community needs and priorities, with grassroots organizing across the city and in the two target neighborhoods. To ensurethat the infrastructure exists to advance those priorities, we are currently planning the development of community land trust social infrastructure.

This infrastructure will consist of 501(c)(3) land trust, neighborhood-level planning groups and city-wide logistical and capacity support. We remain open and flexible, in terms of partnership development and social infrastructure. While the final structure of these institutions will be determined – for the most part – by community needs and priorities, we believe that we should establish the land trust infrastructure as soon as possible, so that we may more effectively support affordable housing creation, community and economic development and empower local communities to control that development. `

Membership, Board Construction and Land Trust Incorporation

Arise is in the process of establishing alimited liability corporation as a subsidiaryentity of its 501(c)(3) c corporate structure.Our membership-driven, Land TrustCommittee will draft provisional by-laws and acorporate charter, in consultation with DudleyStreet, the Community Land Trust Networkand their lawyers (funded by the FordFoundation), following the DSNI model. Thismodel puts planning and decision-makingpower in the hands of the planning andadvocacy arm of local land trust institutionalstructures. The planning group's board will bemostly elected, with a majority of seatsdesignated for land trust residents, community

members – in land trust neighborhoods – and land trust business representatives. Several set-aside seatswill be designated to local elected officials and major project partners.

The planning and advocacy group will be the driving, decision-making body in the matrix of institutions we will build to support land trust activities. It will be charged with organizing the community around planning activities and development. Its elected leadership will be charged with advancing the decisions of neighborhood-based planning processes.

The planning group will appoint a majority of land trust trustees and 4/5 of its executive board, with set-aside seats for local elected officials and other institutional representation. This structure will ground the political power on the planning side, which is grounded in the community through its elected board structure. The land trust will be empowered to negotiate ground leases and development projects. Where ever possible, the goal of these relationships will be to delegate development and property management responsibilities to those corporations and institutions with the capacity to do so.

These activities will be supported by ground lease monies, developer fees and other economic activities that strengthen the economic capacity of the land trust, planning group and other institutions created through the process. Some properties may be developed directly, if they are seen as opportunities for the neighborhood to more effectively profit from the investment, such as catering halls, industrial kitchens or carpentry shops.

The Springfield City of Homes Project will ground its development in an open and inclusive community-deliberation process. This process will begin fall 2014 and will be augmented by developing a city-wide housing, jobs and community development coalition, to provide support and capacity for neighborhood planning efforts. Final recommendations and proposals are expected in Spring 2016.

Land Trust as Housing, Economic Development and CommunityEmpowerment

As we previously noted, this project is being developed around the three pillars of community stability – stable, affordable housing, equitably shared economic activity and community-led development. Drawing from the experiences and successes enjoyed by communities employing community land trusts to address poverty, affordable housing and community regeneration issues, we have chosen this model as our starting point. We have been working with Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiatives (DSNI) and Homes for All in developing our model and we are grateful to those organizations and the national, Community Land Trust Network for their technical assistance andadvice. When pursuing our goals, we will be following a grassroots, community-driven model for planning and development. starting first with those who have the greatest need for stable housing and communities they come from.

Land Trust as Catalyst for a Green, Sustainable, Affordable Springfield

This project is a meeting point between two crucial concerns for Arise: affordable, stable housing and addressing the post-industrial environmental injustice realities of Springfield and creating a healthier, sustainable and more equitable Springfield. While our work on affordable housing and homelessness is well-established – creating the Rainville Apartments, the 2004 Tent City protest and our daily work advocating for the housing-endangered and homeless – our environmental justice work is increasingly converging with our housing work.

Our work to stop Palmer Renewable Energy from building a biomass incinerator in a residentialneighborhood, led us to collaborate with Partners for a Healthier Community to assess environmental health conditions in Springfield. This work led us to become aware of how environmental injustice, economic injustice, health disparities and the crisis of poverty converge with a blighted, post-industrial landscape that stands as an obstacle to a better future for its residents.

These insights were further developed at our first Springfield Climate Justice Conference (September 28, 2013), where two hundred and sixty people participated in day-long forums and workshops on environmental issues. Affordable green housing, more extensive, intercity transportation, sustainable, locally-driven, employment-based economic development and a SpringfieldClimate Action Plan were identified by participants as critically important components to a better futurefor Springfield. These priorities have been integrated in our planning work.

When we plan the development homes, businesses, projects, programs and neighborhoods, we will follow best practice climate-ready guidance, green building practices and environmentally sustainable urban planning. We believe that building environmental sustainability into planning and development – including set-aside green spaces, outdoor recreational infrastructure, community gardens – will allow us to address environmental issues and health disparities as we also address affordable housing and grassroots economic development.

Phase One: Community Needs Assessment and Capacity Building

Funded – in part – by a Sociological Initiatives Foundation grant, we have begun a two year process of surveying, focus groups, community deliberations and organizing, locally and city-wide to develop a broad set of priorities, recommendations and solutions to the housing and economic crisis in Springfield and with local pilot projects in two neighborhoods, Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park/Mill River area.

We have begun surveying low income people and residents in the Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park communities on housing costs, challenges and needs, including income issues. We have developed paper and online versions of the survey we are promoting through our community networks, giving us a baseline understanding of human needs. We have collected over two hundred completed surveys and will continue to collect and analyze surveys throughout this process.

From our survey engagement, we created apool of 150 potential participants, for furtherengagement around housing, community andeconomic needs. During the summer of 2014, wehosted three focus group conversations, involvingforty five of those participants. Each of these focusgroups were organized around their experiences inthe local housing market and related challenges.Each group was encouraged to prioritize issues andsolutions for further development. We will publishthe results of those surveys and focus groups in thewinter of 2014/15.

Over the next few months, those who participated in the focus groups – and the pool of potential participants generally – will be invited to participate in leadership training and community development trainings to prepare them to engage with relevant agencies and institutions, and lead local planning discussions (where they reside). All one hundred and fifty participants will be invited to Springfield City of Homes events and activities. Those who participate will be offered training, educational opportunities and participation in project decision-making.

Concurrent with this research and leadership development work, we are engaging city-wide allies and neighborhood-level community leaders, churches, businesses and active groups in the target neighborhoods. Housing advocates, non-neighborhood churches and agencies, as well as relevant and productive local partners will be organized into a city-wide coalition to develop a common agenda around affordable, sustainable housing, economic and community development, as well as to develop the logistical infrastructure to support neighborhood priorities and plans.

Neighborhoods will be developed internally. Beginning with identifying community, religious and business leaders, agencies and institutions and engaging them in discussion around community development and the issues identified in our surveys and focus groups.

Issues identified in our surveys and focus groups will become the foundation of our community organizing efforts. Four community meetings will be held over the next two years, supported by neighborhood planning meetings, to develop neighborhood-level priorities and recommendations and the nascent social infrastructure to support those conclusions. These community discussions will be supported by neighborhood and city-wide educational programming and technical assistance from planning, public health and other groups, as needs arise. Neighborhoods will be asset-mapped, priorities will be developed and properties of interest to the community will be identified.

Arise for Social Justice will provide the organizing infrastructure to sustain the local and citywide infrastructure, until the economics of the land trust can support these organizations on their own. The long-term goal is self-sustaining, neighborhood level planning and organizing groups, supported by a city-wide coalition with necessary expertise and capacity to support neighborhood development plans and programs and advance those resident-prioritized issues requiring structural or city-wide reform.

Phase Two: Building Projects

Having established the land trust, we will begin to review potential properties of interestin both communities and work with city officials and community leaders to secure them for future development. For the next three years (years three to five) the land trust and supporting organizations will incorporate the community-driven priorities developed in the first phase of this project to guide land acquisition and development, with planning led by the relevant neighborhood group. Arisewill provide the organizing capacity and facilitate technical assistance as needed to

support neighborhood planning and development. The land trust will negotiate with development agencies, secure credit and facilitate the planning process.

Concurrent with planning and development, we will collaborate with local training agencies andrelevant expertise to develop worker cooperatives to undertake construction for these projects. These worker cooperatives will be developed from the neighborhoods where the land trust and planning groups are active. We will look to develop business understanding of worker cooperatives throughout all phases of our work. Construction worker cooperatives developed through our property developmentwill be included our community plans and trained to bid and contract for non-land trust work. By providing them space in the community, this model can bring money into the community to support land trust and private business activity.

Potential Partners: Local residents; Neighborhood Councils; local churches; businesses and community groups; labor unions; Develop Springfield; HAP Housing; Pioneer Valley Planning Coalition, City of Springfield; Friends of the Homeless; Jobs with Justice; Springfield Roman Catholic Church Diocese; Gardening the Community; MCDI; The University of Massachusetts; Springfield College, Baystate Health, Mass Mutual, MGM and others.

Potential Funders: CDGB funding; Religious, financial industry and social justice foundations; The City of Springfield; Equity Trust; CEDAC; Springfield Roman Catholic Church diocese; Mass Mutual; Baystate Health; MGM.

Wherever possible, we will seek to contract with relevant agencies, businesses, development groups and building management agencies to limit land trust liabilities for project development, appropriately delegate expertise and responsibility where they best serve the needs of the community. We believe that this 'plug and play' approach to development will allow us to leverage community assets more effectively and attract organizations, institutions, resources and capital and attract project partners that will better achieve community goals and priorities. Further, by limiting liability in development, we can more effectively ensure the long term solvency and success of the land trust and the most effective possible outcomes for the communities involved.

Phase Three: Developing the Communities

A neighborhood is not simply housing and jobs; it is also relationships, resources and places where the community can come together. The residents need social infrastructure as well as brick and mortar infrastructure, especially if a majority are poor or working class. They need businesses, green spaces, youth programming, safe recreational space for all ages, formal and continuing education and perhaps needs we do not yet know at this time.

In our third phase (years six to ten and beyond), we will develop our communities and land trustproperties so that they enhance existing neighborhoods, serve community needs and develop more economically active, healthy and stable communities. In this phase, we hope to be expanding our workon economic and community infrastructure andneeds, including education, youth programmingand economic development.

By this phase, we hope to have developedcitywide planning, organizing and technicalassistance capacity to the point where we canconsider other Springfield communities forneighborhood-level planning groups and landtrust development. That capacity will be directedby a city-wide board made up of land trustresidents, community residents and relevantpartners, including elected representation fromneighborhood planning groups.

In those neighborhoods where we havealready established ourselves, we hope that theirrespective planning and organizing groups havedeveloped professional staff support and localboard oversight and can manage their own elections and resources and serving as the local nexus for Land Trust activities.

At this point, our attention will increase to developing non-housing resources and advancing community infrastructure, social and economic needs. While all these choices will depend on community planning that has yet to occur, they may include community and youth centers, charter schools, business incubators, worker cooperative bakeries, coffee shops or other collective labor

Potential Partners: Local residents; Neighborhood Councils; local churches, businesses and community groups; labor unions; Develop Springfield; HAP Housing; Habitat for Humanity; Pioneer Valley Planning Commission; City of Springfield.

Potential Funders: US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development; loans, including those banking programs designed to encourage low-income home ownership; developer fees; ground lease fees; CDGB funding; CEDAC; religious, financial industry and social justice foundations; the City of Springfield; Equity Trust; Springfield Roman Catholic Church diocese; Mass Mutual; Baystate Health; MGM.

activities. They may be developing space for social and health agencies to more effectively help those they are dedicated to serve. They may be parks, community gardens or recreational spaces to enhance the quality of life. Or developing a property as an income-producing project to support community, youth and other programming not sustained directly by land trust income.

Land Trusts, Economic Development and Worker Cooperatives

While community land trusts are traditionally associated with creating affordable housing – much of it home-owner based – the land trust model can be readily mobilized to economic and other community needs. By organizing a neighborhood around its housing, economic and community needs as a framework for planning and development, a land trust can create the space for residents to plan their communities in a more holistic, healthy and economically sustainable way. By structurally empowering land trust residents, tenants and community neighbors, communities can built into their community assets that enhance their lives, improve their health, economic lives, educate/empower theirchildren and better care for their elders.

This concept paper is founded on the belief that generative, grassroots economic development – where worker-owned businesses beget worker-owned businesses – offers us the most accessible model for combating local poverty and joblessness. Such models build in skills capacity and education with community development and target that capacity toward larger economic spheres of activity.

As we organize the community around the development of their assets, we will keep job creation central to our goals. While the economic development components of this land trust cannot satisfy the need for job creation in Springfield, we can believe we can advance a model for economic

Potential Partners: Local residents, businesses, churches and community groups; land trust residents and businesses, project partners, and developers; social service agencies; University of Massachusetts; local colleges; Baystate Health; Develop Springfield; HAP Housing; Habitat for Humanity; Pioneer Valley Planning Commission; City of Springfield; Gardening the Community; Springfield Technical Community College; Springfield Public Schools.

Potential Funders: US Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Education, Commerceand Health and Human Services; US Environmental Protection Agency; state and municipal agencies; low-income home ownership programs; developer fees; ground lease fees; earned income; national, religious, financial industry and social justice foundations; cultural and historical capital funding.

self-development that can be adopted outside thecommunities we will be working in. As wedevelop expertise in this model of labororganization, we will create training anddevelopment opportunities for non-land trustgroups.

We will begin organizing workercooperatives around the building skills we willneed to renovate homes, factories, commercialspaces and new construction projects. We willseek support and guidance from establishedworker cooperatives in the region, such as Foodfor Thought Books (pictured, left) and CollectiveCopies in Amherst MA. We will collaborate withlarger, local worker cooperatives such as Wellspring and seek technical assistance and training from leading organizations in this field. We will do inherent skills analysis among populations considered forworker cooperatives. Insights from this assessment, will refine our worker cooperative plans as we go.

Having developed buildings trade worker cooperatives, we will include their workspace needs in our planning and help them build the business infrastructure to participate in the regional construction industry. We will partner with training and business schools – where relevant – to ensure well-trained workers, supported by the regional business community and successfully engaged in the wider economy.

Having developed the indigenous skills necessary to advance land trust development plans, we will continue to develop this model of labor organization to animate the community with local businesses that serve the needs and desires of the community. Drawing from neighborhood-level planning analysis of community inherent skills research, we will develop additional worker cooperatives to address those prioritized needs.

These worker cooperatives may include a bakery, coffee shop, fresh food grocer or fish market. It may be a catering or cleaning service that works primarily beyond the borders of the neighborhood. We remain open to the needs of the communities as they prioritize them. By grounding job creation efforts in the inherent skill sets of the community, by building new skills development into the development process and by integrating regional market analysis into local economic planning, we can better develop worker cooperatives that are successful beyond the neighborhood.

Since we are seeking to develop communities where people live, work and send their children to school, those industries that are created must enhance and remain considerate to the residential character of their neighborhoods. By putting the community at the center of the decision-making process around economic development, we can better assure both outcomes are achieved. By building those businesses as worker cooperatives, we can better assure the community enjoys the maximum economic benefit for businesses they share their neighborhood with.

Worker cooperativesengaged in the development ofthe community, provided neededor desired services will maximizethe multiplier effects of inwardinvestment, ensuring thatdevelopment dollars are investedin local workers, who then canspend their money on equallyneighborhood-driven enterprises,be they privately or collectivelyowned.

Next Steps

Having developed a basic understanding of land trusts and their potential value for the people ofSpringfield, we are engaged in assessing community housing needs, built environmental conditions, existing housing stock and developing the neighborhood and city-wide civic infrastructure to support land trust development. These efforts include focus groups with low-income residents, over 200 housing surveys and leadership training. Over the next few months, we will be hosting a variety of workshops on built environment and community needs and publishing provisional findings in our assessment of local housing needs.

We are also conducting building-by-building assessment of the built environment in several neighborhoods in Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park. These assessments will be provided tolocal neighborhoods, to assist their deliberations on low-income housing needs, urban blight and solutions to these crises. We will publish a report on Springfield housing and built environment needs and conditions by Spring 2016.

For the purposes of providing a framework for future land trust development, we are incorporating Springfield City of Homes as a subsidiary LLC, to Arise for Social Justice. As this project matures, we will build more formal structures, to ensure resident and neighborhood control overassets within their midst. We will be developing a grassroots model for decision-making structures, using Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiatives as our model and technical assistance guide.

We will further that development by convening city-wide forums on housing issues, and developing a coalition of residents, organizations and housing advocates, to develop local expertise, identify potential communities for development and the political will to address low-income housing issues and the economic circumstances that drive the crisis.

Conversely, we will be convening listening sessions, discussions and education events in Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park, with the purpose of developing neighborhood-level leadership, priorities and recommendations.

To that end, we will be pursuing pre-development funding, completing all phases of our research, identifying partners and resources and developing those relationships necessary for developing a successful land trust in Springfield.

We believe the Springfield City of Homes Land Trust model can become a powerful tool for affordable housing, healthier, happier and more sustainable communities and as an engine for equitablyshared economic growth. More than any other model for development suggested, a land trust grounded in economic development can empower neighborhoods take charge of their fates, reshape them to better enhance their lives, stabilize their living conditions and improve their material fate.

Building a Better Community from the Ground Up

The idea of community, for many of us, is often centered center around the culture we want to create; that is to say, the attitudes and behavior characteristic of our particular social group, nation or neighborhood. We create this culture as a means of defining “the good life” for ourselves, our families and subsequently our community, our town, our nation, and ultimately our world.

By creating the context and conditionsfor this culture to grow within poor,marginalized communities, we believe thatpeople can change their reality for themselves. By empowering community members to workthrough the challenges they face – together –their sense of community ownership willincrease. This will have positive effectsthroughout the community. Families willbecome more stable, developing into socialanchors in the community. The violent anddestabilizing effects of poverty will belessened. Health disparities will decrease. Thecollective mental health of the community willimprove. Children will do better in school andenjoy greater opportunities. Crime – especially violent crime – will decline.

If conditions are allowed to flower, small businesses and worker cooperatives, will ground community development with concrete economic activity that is more effectively circulated and shared more equitably throughout the community. The community and its residents will be better connected tothe regional economy and – in time – the neighborhood economy will become self-sufficient.

By building in best practice guidance for sustainable, healthy and economically dynamic neighborhood-level economic development, positive outcomes can be enhanced. By building this project around affordable, sustainable housing, economic development and quality of life improvements – and grounding that effort through grassroots, empowering principles and strategies – poor, marginalized communities can become the engines of their own success. Not just for this generation, but for generations to come.

The genius of the land trust model for development is that the housing developed becomes moreaffordable over time. By building in community development – education, health care, worker cooperatives, small business development – the whole of the community's needs are more effectively met. By building including the community in its development, by developing in accordance with their identified needs, concerns and priorities, we believe we can move whole communities from poverty to self-sufficiency and sustain that good fortune for generations to come.

Carried to its fullest conclusion, Springfield City of Homes is not simply a model for addressingpoverty and its effects, but a solution. It is an answer to the question the poor continually ask, 'how do we take care of ourselves, our families and our communities, so we may share in the good fortune of life?” It is an answer that addresses the crying need for affordable housing, stable, healthy and growing communities, sufficient wages and a better future for our children and community. In the spirit of hope and possibilities,we hope you will join Arise for Social Justice's Springfield and help us build that better tomorrow.

Appendices

Timeline of Land Trust Development Activities2012 Springfield Demographic, Housing and Socioeconomic Statistics

Timeline of Arise Land Trust Development Activities

2011 – Arise joined Right to the City

2012 – Arise joins Right to the City's Homes for All campaign.

May-June 2013 - Arise Begins internal discussions around land trusts and alternative housing solutions.

August 2013 – Arise members, staff and board visit Dudley Street Initiatives as part of their consideration of land trusts as a solution to Springfield's low-income housing crisis.

September 28, 2013 – Arise/Climate Action Now's Springfield Climate Justice Conference draws 260 people. Affordable, environmentally sustainable housing ranked as top priority for community development, along with expanding public transportation and a Springfield Climate Action plan.

October 2013 – Arise formed ad hoc committee to explore the potential of land trusts and begins grant writing and research in support of Springfield City of Homes Project, drawing on previous environmental justice community outreach and priority development work under the auspices of the EPA's CARE Project (Arise was subcontractor for that project. Current Arise Land Trust Committee Chair, Dr. Thomas Taaffe, was the Director of the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition and supervised that project and wrote most of its research findings.)

November 2013 – Right to the City's Homes for All Campaign adopted community land trusts

February-April 2014 – Participated in Right to the City;s land trust discussions, including all three webinars.

March, 2014 – Arise Received 2 year Sociological Initiatives Foundation grant ($20,000) to assess lowincome housing needs, build neighborhood planning capacity in two neighborhoods – Lower Forest Park and Greater Mason Square – as well as develop a city-wide coalition for housing and community development reform.

March 2014 – Review of 2012 US Census data related to Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park.

March 2014 – Review of existing and relevant planning documents in the neighborhoods under consideration.

April 2014 – Housing needs survey developed and collection begun in Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park.

April, 2014 – Land Trust ad hoc committee chair, Tom Taaffe, sent to the national conference of the Community Land Trust Network, to educate the committee and further explore land trust development in Springfield.

May 2014 - 1st built environment survey of Upper Metro Center (part of Greater Mason Square). Property ownership, property values, tax status, known environmental hazards, included street-side visual inspection.

June 2014 – Arise established Land Trust Committee as a standing committee. Committee has voting representation on Arise Board of Directors.

June 2014 – Land Trust Committee begins drafting concept paper and other relevant documents necessary for institutional engagement. Conducted first-phase power analysis

July 2014 – First of several low income housing focus groups convened, to discuss housing, income and community needs.

August 2014 – Last Low income housing focus group completed

October 2014 – Arise Board of Directors unanimously approves Springfield City of Homes as a solution to the problem of affordable housing, urban blight and systemic, structural poverty in Springfield.

January 2015 – Arise incorporates Springfield City of Homes Land Trust as subsidiary LLC, with the intention of spinning it off as an independent 501(c)(3)

May 2015 – Renter's Assembly: First City-wide meeting on affordable housing issues.

May 2015 – Arise releases Springfield City of Homes: Rebuilding the Springfield From the CommunityUp

May 2015 – Arise Releases Reimagining Springfield: Land Trusts, Worker Cooperatives and Arts as Economic Development

June 2015 – 1st built environment survey of Lower Forest Park. Property ownership, property values, tax status, known environmental hazards, included street-side visual inspection.

July/August 2015 - 1st built environment survey of McKnight, Old Hill and Six Corners ownership, property values, tax status, known environmental hazards, included street-side visual inspection.

September 2015 – First neighborhood meetings convened in Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park

October 2015 – Renter's Assembly: second city-wide housing coalition meeting convened

November 2015 – Second neighborhood meetings convened in Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park

November 2015 – First annual membership meeting of Springfield Land Trust

Feb 2016 – First Phase report on Low income housing needs, based on surveys and focus groups.

March 2016 – Third neighborhood meetings convened in Greater Mason Square and Lower Forest Park

April 2016 – Renter's Assembly: third citywide housing coalition meeting – Presentation of findings.

May 2016 – fourth neighborhood level discussions – deliberations and priorities

June 2016 – Renter's Assembly: fourth citywide housing coalition meeting – Presentation of neighborhood-level concerns and priorities to Citywide housing coalition.

November/December 2016 – Renter's Assembly: fifth citywide housing priority development meeting

February 2017 – Publication of Springfield Housing and Community Needs Report.

Springfield Massachusetts Demographic, Housing and SocioeconomicCensus Statistics

Table 1: Housing Status and Conditions in Targeted Neighborhoods, Compared

Table 2: Economic Conditions in Targeted Neighborhoods, Compared

Total Units

Greater Mason SquareLower Old Hill 8018 74.6% 9.6% 1,642 308 18.8% 36.1% 63.9%Upper Old Hill 8017 75.3% 3.8% 2,181 260 11.9% 43.3% 56.7%Lower State Street South 8019.02 51.0% 15.3% 1,695 273 16.1% 15.2% 84.8%Bay Road Area 8014.01 51.7% 20.6% 1,532 23 14.6% 38.3% 61.7%Upper Metro 8012 67.8% 24.0% 1,354 214 15.8% 4.1% 95.9%McKnight 8013 75.0% 6.5% 1,729 285 16.5% 38.3% 61.7%

Lower Forest ParkLower South End 8020 82.8% 41.0% 1,254 144 11.5% 5.9% 94.1%Mill River South 8019.01 55.3% 82.0% 1,727 282 16.3% 15.4% 84.6%

Springfield MA 39.7% 13.8% 61,942 6,351 10.3% 47.5% 52.5%Hampden County 31.1% 24.0% 191,733 15,405 8.0% 62.3% 37.7%Massachusetts 35.0% 25.3% 2,809,746 278,512 9.9% 63.2% 36.8%

Census Tract numbers

Housing Built before

1940

Housing Built after

1980

Vacant Housing

Units

% of vacant

housing units

Owner Occupied

Renter Occupied

# Employed

Greater Mason SquareLower Old Hill 8018 $9,567 $26,141 $19,318 52.9% $23,021 34.2% 3,248 1,111Upper Old Hill 8017 $11,128 $30,758 $8,883 33.3% $35,581 35.1% 6,783 2,380Lower State Street South 8019.02 $12,144 $13,750 $17,234 65.1% $15,698 43.1% 2,258 974Bay Road Area 8014.01 $12,366 $31,364 $16,841 47.4% $25,991 39.0% 3,323 1,296Upper Metro 8012 $13,034 $23,259 $16,232 52.9% $18,103 38.4% 2,077 797McKnight 8013 $14,764 $30,798 $20,903 50.1% $26,600 44.5% 3,312 1,475

Lower Forest ParkLower South End 8020 $8,992 $16,636 $18,825 63.7% $17,441 48.3% 1,758 895Mill River South 8019.01 $10,151 $24,369 $17,670 57.2% $21,780 43.8% 2,396 1,155

Springfield MA $18,016 $40,534 $25,116 34.2% $35,163 48.9% 117,010 57,267Hampden County $25,626 $60,491 $32,161 23.1% $48,865 55.3% 231,027 205,210Massachusetts $34,907 $82,977 $36,386 12.9% $65,339 61.6% N/A N/AUnited States $27,319 $62,527 $30,155 13.6% $51,371 63.4% 248,601,283 142,921,687

Census Tract

numbers

Per capita Income

Median Family

Income

Median Worker Income

Food Stamps in last 12 months

Median Household

Income

% of Civilian Workforce Employed

# Working Population

18-64

Table 3: Democratic Characteristics of Target Neighborhoods, Compared

Under 18 Over 64 Black Latino Asian

Greater Mason SquareLower Old Hill 8018 41.5% 5.5% 9.0% 46.7% 48.1% 0.0% 2.4%Upper Old Hill 8017 39.2% 6.9% 32.3% 52.5% 22.0% 0.2% 0.5%Lower State Street South 8019.02 35.4% 8.8% 25.6% 40.6% 66.2% 8.5% 2.0%Bay Road Area 8014.01 32.9% 8.4% 8.4% 42.7% 51.0% 0.8% 0.0%Upper Metro 8012 28.7% 7.3% 15.9% 27.1% 58.8% 0.0% 0.5%McKnight 8013 33.5% 9.9% 12.4% 54.6% 30.7% 2.5% 2.7%

Lower Forest ParkLower South End 8020 41.0% 1.7% 17.9% 21.2% 72.3% 0.1% 0.2%Mill River South 8019.01 40.1% 4.8% 20.4% 25.0% 54.2% 2.0% 0.0%

Springfield MA 30.7% 11.4% 34.4% 23.8% 42.7% 1.9% 1.3%Hampden County 23.3% 15.0% 66.4% 9.9% 22.0% 2.4% 0.9%Massachusetts 24.4% 14.5% 75.3% 8.6% 10.1% 6.4% 0.7%

Census Tract

numbers

White not Latino

Native American

Under 18 Over 64 Black Latino Asian

Greater Mason SquareLower Old Hill 8018 41.5% 5.5% 9.0% 46.7% 48.1% 0.0% 2.4%Upper Old Hill 8017 39.2% 6.9% 32.3% 52.5% 22.0% 0.2% 0.5%Lower State Street South 8019.02 35.4% 8.8% 25.6% 40.6% 66.2% 8.5% 2.0%Bay Road Area 8014.01 32.9% 8.4% 8.4% 42.7% 51.0% 0.8% 0.0%Upper Metro 8012 28.7% 7.3% 15.9% 27.1% 58.8% 0.0% 0.5%McKnight 8013 33.5% 9.9% 12.4% 54.6% 30.7% 2.5% 2.7%

Lower Forest ParkLower South End 8020 41.0% 1.7% 17.9% 21.2% 72.3% 0.1% 0.2%Mill River South 8019.01 40.1% 4.8% 20.4% 25.0% 54.2% 2.0% 0.0%

Springfield MA 30.7% 11.4% 34.4% 23.8% 42.7% 1.9% 1.3%Hampden County 23.3% 15.0% 66.4% 9.9% 22.0% 2.4% 0.9%Massachusetts 24.4% 14.5% 75.3% 8.6% 10.1% 6.4% 0.7%

Census Tract

numbers

White not Latino

Native American

For further informationPlease contact

Arise for Social Justice467 State St, Springfield MA 01105

Tel 413-734-4948 - Fax 413-734-4030Ariseforsocialjustice@gmail.com

Or visit our website at: http://arisespringfield.org/