CITY BUILDING OFFICIAL PULLS CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANY OF
ONE OF BCCLT’S MAJOR RENTAL
PROPERTIES, LABELING IT “UNFIT
FOR HUMAN HABITATION”

by Dennis Reeves Cooper

We have written here before
that the concept of a land
trust that addresses affordable
housing is laudable. That was
the stated idea behind the Bahama
Conch Community Land
Trust (BCCLT) when it was
established here in 1995.

Financed by state and federal
grants and a special city tax,
the BCCLT would buy houses,
rehab them, then deed restrict
the properties as affordable,
then rent or sell those properties
to income-qualified residents.

What makes the properties affordable
is that the trust retains
ownership of the land— which,
in theory, removes the cost of
the land from the cost of the
home.

So far, the BCCLT has
been able to purchase about 40
properties.
Laudable.

But somewhere along the
way, during the short history
of the BCCLT, something went
terribly wrong. The BCCLT has
degenerated into a virtual slum
landlord operation. Are those
words too strong? We don’t
think so.

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