Another Gold for CLTs!
Hastings Commons wins Gold World Habitat Award, further strengthening Community Land Trusts international recognition
Staff and residents of Hastings Commons, a pioneering approach to community-led regeneration. photo credits: Hastings Commons
Showcasing the power of collective action, Hastings Commons has been awarded the 2025 Gold World Habitat Award in recognition of its transformative impact.
An urban regeneration project in the south of England, Hasting Commons Community Land Trust brings unused buildings back to life as homes, workspaces, and social hubs. It is driven by community-led organisations, which, for the past 10 years, have transformed 8,500 square metres of derelict space. Hasting Commons prioritises permanent community ownership of land, which guarantees true environmental stewardship, and permanent affordability.
“Hastings Commons are worthy winners, with a lot to teach the world about renovating a whole neighbourhood fairly, sustainably, and affordably. Even in a country like the UK with a strong community-led housing movement, it is rare to see such an innovative, effective and large-scale model succeeding with longevity.”
David Ireland, CEO of World Habitat
Hasting Commons builds on the success of other CLTs in receipt of a World Habitat Gold Award, which aims at identifying and promoting good habitat practices, in partnership with UN Habitat. Community Land Trust Brussels won the Gold World Habitat Award in 2021 for its alternative route to affordable homeownership for people on low incomes, following the lead of Caño Martín Peña CLT Puerto Rico in 2021 and Champlain Housing Trust in the US.
CLTs have had wind in their sails in the past years. In 2024 alone, UN Habitat featured Barcelona’s La Borda project in its annual World Cities Report case studies, highlighting how governance solutions can enhance affordable housing; and Calico, a CLTB project in Brussels, was recognised as best practice at the EU level. Actively supported by the European Union in promoting its model, CLTB has shared its success formula with municipalities from Portugal to Montenegro, ensuring that each city has the right tools to develop its own affordable and sustainable housing solutions while remaining locally relevant and impactful.
Though these projects address different challenges in different geographical contexts, they share a common model: member-led, democratic, nonprofit organisations that own and develop land for the benefit of the community, ensuring permanent and genuine affordability.
With housing prices rising by more than 47% and rents by 18% in the EU in the past 15 years, the recognition of these CLT projects as best practices worldwide underscores two key realities: conventional housing models are reaching their limits, and CLTs are proving successful in diverse geographical contexts - offering tangible inspiration for new initiatives across the globe.
With their scale and recognition growing bigger each year, Community Land Trusts are increasingly important for policymakers in delivering housing solutions. It is crucial for them to recognise these land innovations now, to build more robust and holistic housing policies for the future.
