Dane Williams

Multiple Toronto neighbourhoods — including Chinatown, Kensington Market, Parkdale, and now Little Jamaica — have found a way to preserve local businesses and protect affordable housing for vulnerable residents in the face of constant redevelopment. Community land trusts (CLTs)  are non-profit corporations that hold land on behalf of a place-based community, while serving as the steward for affordable housing, civic buildings, and other community assets to avoid the displacement of vulnerable...

From Kensington to Little Jamaica, Toronto has become ‘hot spot’ for Canada’s community land trust movement In Little Jamaica, some locals are hopeful a newly-formed community land trust can help curb the displacement of Black-owned small business owners and renters. Beginning in the 1950s, many Caribbean immigrants settled in Toronto along Eglinton Avenue between Keele Street and what is now Allen Road, and established shops offering a taste of home — jerk dishes, reggae music and fashion...