社區會議:
華埠整體計劃
了解更多有關三間酒店的發展計劃
提出對公共土地和中華貿易大樓將來發展的看法
討論改善公共空間和行人路安全的問題
2016 年 9 月 14 日，星期三
晚上 6:30時至 8:30 時
地點:昆士小學飯堂 , 華盛頓街 885 號
聯合主辦團體：亞美社區發展協會，華埠土地信托，華埠整體計劃委員會，華埠主街，華埠居民會，華人前進會
Town Meeting:
Chinatown Master Plan
Learn about three new
hotel proposals
Offer a vision for
public parcels and the China Trade Center
Discuss ways to
improve public space and pedestrian safety
Wednesday, September 14th, 2016
6:30 – 8:30 pm
at the Josiah Quincy School Cafeteria, 885 Washington
Street
Sponsors: Asian Community Development Corporation,
Chinatown Community Land Trust, Chinatown Main Street, Chinatown Master Plan
Committee, Chinatown Resident Association, Chinese Progressive Association
The Chinatown Community Land Trust: A Tool to Sustain
Community
By Michael Liu
Community Land Trusts have spread
across the U.S. to sustain the type of land and buildings that most of its
residents need.
As the wealthy move into particular
areas and drive up prices for land and housing, longtime residents often get
pushed out of their neighborhoods. With the influx of luxury housing into
Chinatown since 2000, longtime row house owners with limited resources for
needed repairs are selling to new investors for top dollar, and low-income
tenants are evicted in favor of higher-paying renters. Today's prices—more than
a million dollars for a brick row house in disrepair—are driven by the wild
rise and fall of the market more than
the actual condition of the building.
The purpose of the Community Land
Trust is to promote community ownership
of land and housing in order to change this vicious cycle of the market.
Properties owned by the community
become permanently affordable, with values rising at a moderate level, based on
actual investments and home improvements, not on market speculation. This helps
people stay in and build a strong community for the long term. The Community
Land Trust is a non-profit, based on the idea that housing and healthy
communities are an important human value, not only a commodity to buy and sell.
Community Land Trusts can be used to
create and maintain affordable housing, community gardens, small business
space, community services, or urban farms. Neighborhoods are increasingly using
Community Land Trusts to sustain themselves for their current residents. The
recent establishment of Boston's Chinatown Community Land Trust has that goal.
The concept of a land trust
Community land trusts are based on
the idea of separating ownership of land from buildings, with the community's
goals for the land written into the deed.
While this may seem strange to many,
in much of the United States, those who own the land are different from those
who own the buildings on the land. In fact, the federal government owns the
majority of land in five states, and over forty percent in four others,
including California, and then leases some of the land to various individuals
or companies. This arrangement is also true for state government land, Native American
lands, and other entities, like the lands of the former King and Queen of
Hawaii. This separation of land ownership from ownership of buildings is not
that unusual in the U.S.
The ownership of the land by the
government intends to preserve the interests of a group, such as the people of
the U.S. In the same way, a community land trust intends to preserve the
interest of the community. Land trusts
can keep housing on their land permanently affordable, as opposed to other
subsidized housing that may change due to a change in ownership. Individuals
who own buildings on the land trust get them at a cheaper rate and with lower
taxes. Thus community land trusts make affordable housing more possible. Often,
community land trusts lease the land to homeowners for 99 years, giving the
homeowners long-term security.
This arrangement has been successful
in keeping housing affordable. During the recent Great Recession, when many
individual homeowners were hit with foreclosure, homes on land trusts were
rarely foreclosed upon. The community land trusts that owned the land would
intervene to preserve the housing at affordable rents for the families so that
they could remain in their homes.
The Chinatown Community Land Trust
Because of the sharp loss of
affordable housing over the decades, Boston, along with other cities, is also
providing support for land trusts. In Boston, the most well-known land trust is
the Dudley Neighbors Inc. land trust, based in Roxbury. That land trust has
built and maintained hundreds of affordable housing units since the late 1980s.
The City of Boston recently decided to provide technical support to a growing
network of land trusts.
Current and former residents formed
the Chinatown Community Land Trust (CCLT) last year to stabilize the future of
Chinatown. The CCLT board is elected every two years from members of the
Chinatown community. We have been in discussion with Chinatown landowners about selling or
transferring their land to the community land trust for long-term preservation of
affordable housing. The CCLT has been talking to city government as well, about
the idea of community ownership of City-owned properties in the neighborhood,
such as the China Trade Center. We are
also asking longtime Chinatown owners to consider selling, donating, or
offering the first option to purchase their property to the CCLT in order to
preserve the community.
Only in this way can we sustain
Chinatown as a neighborhood for working class families and the elderly and as a
regional hub for the Greater Boston Chinese community.
Board members of the Chinatown
Community Land Trust are:
Lawrence Cheng, Architect and
Community Planner
Jeff Hovis, Oak Street Homeowner
Suzanne Lee, Former Principal and
Resident
Earnie Leung, Resident and Hair
Salon Owner
Michael Liu, Former Resident and
Community Historian
Ann Moy, Castle Square Resident
Jadine SooHoo, Former Resident and
Café Owner
For more information, contact
ChinatownCLT@gmail.com
華埠社區土地信託：一種用來維持社區的工具
社區土地信託已在美國境內的散播，以維持大部分居民所需要的土地和建築。
隨著富裕者遷進一些特定的區域，不只將地價和房價推高，而且時常會逼走該社區的老街坊。自2000年以來豪華住宅不斷湧入，唐人街內的業主將其缺乏資金維修排屋以高價賣給新的投資者，結果能支付更高租金的租戶便取替了低收入的租戶。今天的房價是：一所久經失修的排屋可以賣超過一百萬美元，其賣價遠超過實際建築物的價值。這種現象是直接受到市場的升跌所帶動。
社區土地信託的目的是為了促進社區對土地和住房的所有權，從而改變市場這種惡性循環。
由社區所擁有的物業成為永久可負擔性，其升值在中等水平，是根據實際投資和家庭環境的改善，而不是市場炒作。這有助於人們為長期而保持和建立一個強大的社區。社區土地信託是一個非營利，及堅信住房和健康的社區是人類的一個重要價值，而不僅是一種商品買賣。
社區土地信託可用於創建和維護可負擔性住房，社區花園，小企業的空間，社區服務，還是城市農場。很多鄰區為了居民的福祉都相繼利用社區土地信託來鞏固自己。最近成立的波士頓華埠社區土地信託就是持著這個目標。
一個土地信託的概念
社區土地信託是基於將土地權與建築物分離，並將社區對土地用途的願景寫進地契的一個想法。
雖然這聽來有點奇怪，但在美國內有許多擁有物業權但不擁有該塊土地權的。事實上，聯邦政府擁有五個州大部分的土地，而在其他四個州，包括加州擁有超過百分之四十的地權，他們只將土地租賃給不同的個人或公司。這種安排也見於州政府的土地，美洲原住民的土地，和其他實業，像夏威夷的前國王和王后的土地等。這種將建築物與土地所有權分離的做法，在美國並非異常。
政府擁有土地權，是為保護一個群體的利益，美國人就是採取這種方式來保護其國民。社區土地信託擬以保護社會的利益。它可保留其樓房為永久可負擔性，而不像那些因業主易手而失去產權的津貼屋宇。任何在土地信託的土地上擁有建築物的人士，都可以得到較低的課稅。因此，社區土地信託對住房的保障更有可能性。在通常情況下，社區土地信託給房主99年的租賃期，這樣給房主較長期的保障。
這樣的安排已成功地保持住房的可負擔性。在最近的經濟大衰退期間，當許多個體業主喪失其對供款樓房的贖回權時， 但對土地信託家庭的影響卻很少。因為所有由社區土地信託擁有的土地的租金都保持在可負擔的範圍內，使所有家庭都能夠留在自己的家園。
華埠社區土地信託
由於可負擔住房在過去幾十年的大幅虧損，波士頓與其他城市一起，仍支持著土地信託。在波士頓，最知名的土地信託是鄰居達德利公司土地信託，總部設在羅克斯伯里。該土地信託自20世紀80年代後期建設了數百套可負擔住房。 最近，波士頓市決定向不斷增長的土地信託網絡提供技術上的支持。
為了以穩定唐人街的未來，曾居住及現居住在唐人街的居民在去年組織了社區土地信託（CCLT）。該華埠社區土地信託董事會將每兩年從唐人街社區中選拔成員。我們一直與華埠的地主商量，出售或轉讓他們的土地給社區土地信託， 以保障這等住房的長期可負擔性。土地信託也一直與市政府交談有關一個由社區接管在鄰近市府公地的所有權的想法，如中國貿易大樓。我們也要求長期唐人街業主考慮出售，捐贈，或給予土地信託優先權去購買其物業以保留社區。
唯有這樣，我們才能繼續令唐人街成為勞工階層家庭、老人和大波士頓華人社區的樞紐。
華埠社區土地信託的董事會成員有：
鄭---，建築師和規劃師社區
傑夫·霍維斯，屋街房主
李素影，前任校長和居民
梁---，居民和髮廊老闆
劉仲岳，前居民和社區歷史學家
梅---，城堡村居民
司徒---，前居民和餐廳老闆
欲了解更多信息，請聯繫ChinatownCLT@gmail.com
