Building community power and advancing collective ownership of land and housing
Expand and Preserve Affordable Housing for Our Communities
Advance Equitable Neighborhood Development
Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization and community land trust working alongside residents of Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles to secure safe, decent, and permanently affordable housing through community ownership.
Nuestra Tierra, Nuestra Libertad
Fideicomiso Comunitario Tierra Libre depends on your support.
Please consider donating today.
Amidst our work, we are guided by the hopes and struggles of our community—captured in the spirit of this poem:
La Esperanza del barrio
Es la de un fideicomiso
Proteger tierra y vivienda
Es un mayor compromiso
Protegiendo a inquilinos
Que no sean desalojados
Por un sistema podrido
Que ya nos tiene cansados
~ Margarita González
Co-Founder of FCTL
This verse echoes the urgency of our mission.
We fight not just to build homes, but to protect families from displacement and challenge a broken system that prioritizes profit over people.
Ultimately, community ownership is not just about securing land and housing—it is about reimagining our relationship to land itself. It is a practice of stewardship rather than ownership, an effort to manifest alternative ways of living beyond the speculative housing market. Even while operating within an inequitable private property system, we are building the foundation for a transformed future—one in which cooperative housing, mutual support, and healthy living are the norm.
As we continue to grow, so does our knowledge and commitment to challenging the status quo. We refuse to accept the extractive logic of speculative real estate. Instead, we choose to be architects of a new housing ecosystem—one built on solidarity, resilience, and self-determination.