Durham Community Land Trustees, Inc. (DCLT) was founded in 1987 when neighbors banded together after seeing house after house left empty to decay. Motivated by a vision of cleaning up houses that attract crime, increasing the stock of affordable housing, and helping residents gain a stake in their community through homeownership, these residents laid the foundation for DCLT.

DCLT’s primary target area is Durham’s West End, Burch Avenue and Lyon Park neighborhoods.

As of May 2007, the Land Trust’s portfolio includes 154 units of affordable housing in Durham’s West End neighborhoods with an additional 13 under development. Through much of our history, DCLT’s work has focused on the renovation of existing housing stock. Where to develop property has been driven both by the availability of property and by a strategy to target the areas that most compromised the quality of life for the community. DCLT’s current projects consist of new constructions built under a green building initiative. The Land Trust’s property portfolio includes homeownership, special needs rental housing, tax-credit rental housing, and commercial properties.

The work of DCLT goes well beyond bricks and mortar. Our work with community residents has led to many successes including co-developing a neighborhood community center, installing bus shelters, addressing drainage issues, improving street lighting, and organizing community clean-ups. Today, DCLT is part of The West End Collaborative, a development partnership that includes DCLT, Habitat for Humanity and Self-Help CDC. This Collaborative is guided by a neighborhood resident group, the Quality of Life Committee, on strategic community development projects.

Durham Community Land Trustees is a grantee of the North Carolina Community Development Initiative and a chartered member of NeighborWorks America. In addition, our work is supported in large part by the City of Durham, the Duke-Durham Partnership, and charitable contributions from individuals and corporations who understand that Durham is only as strong as its neighborhoods.

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