Community Land Trusts: Protecting Affordability & Promoting Equity in Homeownership

Tony Pickett is Chief Executive Officer of Grounded Solutions Network, a national nonprofit organization with over 200 members. Working together with local community leaders, Grounded Solutions advances its mission to cultivate communities — equitable, inclusive and rich in opportunity — by implementing affordable housing solutions that last for generations. Tony’s over 35 years of professional community development experience includes successful permanently affordable shared equity housing development and thought leadership; promoting inclusive housing policies and expanding the use of community land trusts for racial equity impact.

Tony’s prior experience includes his role as the Senior V.P. of Master Site Development for the Denver, Colorado based Urban Land Conservancy. His accomplishments there are collectively described by collaborators as innovative - thinking about and achieving equitable outcomes in a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary manner. Under Tony’s leadership Grounded Solutions has launched multiple successful national programmatic initiatives, including a multi-city land bank/land trust partnership (“Catalytic Land Cohort”), an inclusive policy focused multi-city cohort (“ForEveryoneHome”) and an exciting 10-year expansion vision for “Lasting Affordability in Housing Now” to achieve 1 million homes.

Tony contributes his time and expertise to support the national nonprofit boards of the Up for Growth Coalition, Center for CLT Innovation and Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. He is also a founding member of the national community development sector CEOs of Color Circle.

Tony is a graduate of the Cornell University School of Architecture, Art and Planning and a strong advocate for holistic and equitable community development initiatives.

Nina helps explore and develop new areas of investment and manages Arnold Ventures' new programs portfolio.

Before joining Arnold Ventures, Nina worked as an affordable housing advocate in Houston, where she helped establish the city's first community land trust, served on the board of a local housing advocacy coalition, and provided technical support to housing organizations in other U.S. cities. Prior to her work in housing, she practiced law as a real estate associate at Baker Botts LLP.

She holds a J.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor's in interdisciplinary studies from New York University.

Kristin King-Ries has a national law practice representing community land trusts on a wide range of legal matters, from negotiating and drafting donation and partnership agreements, advising on choice of entity for nonprofit ventures, the planning and development stages of home ownership projects, establishing HOAs, stewarding permanent affordability, and nonprofit governance. She oversees the purchase and sale of community land trust homes, and helps CLTs navigate homeowner bankruptcy and foreclosure. In states where she is not licensed, Kristin associates with local counsel to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, including zoning ordinances and land use laws. She serves as a consultant to the Vermont Law School's Center for Agriculture and Food Systems on applying the CLT model to farmland and farm housing. She is a founding member of the Montana Agrarian Commons, one of ten commons around the county affiliated with Agrarian Trust.

Kristin is a regular presenter on the community land trust model. Most recently she was a panelist on a presentation sponsored by the American Bar Association's Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development. Tony Pickett, the CEO of Grounded Solutions, acted as moderator. Kristin is on the board of the Northwest Montana Community Land Trust. She is a former board member of the Northwest Community Land Trust Coalition and currently co-chairs that board's Advocacy Committee. The Advocacy Committee develops model CLT legislation for states in the Northwest region and hosts a quarterly series on legislative advocacy for CLTs.

As General Counsel for Trust Montana from 2017-2021, Kristin provided due diligence for real estate transactions and land donations, drafted ground leases, HOA declarations and by-laws, and helped develop policies for long-term stewardship of homes in portfolio. She graduated from Washington University School of Law, where she wrote for the Law Review.

Greg Rosenberg is the principal of Rosenberg and Associates, with a consulting practice in the areas of affordable and sustainable housing development, strategic planning, cohousing, urban agriculture – and all things relating to community land trusts. He also serves as the coordinator of the Center for Community Land Trust Innovation, whose mission is to support the work of CLTs through documenting the history of the movement, conducting and supporting research, as well as providing assistance to innovative efforts around the world.

Greg has developed curriculum and taught workshops on community land trusts, sustainable development, fair housing, property taxation, universal design, and urban agriculture. Greg is licensed to practice law in the state of Wisconsin, is a licensed Advanced Practice Social Worker, and is a LEED Accredited Professional.

Greg is fluent in WordPress development, Zoom meetings and webinars, as well as Google Workspace and Microsoft Office, with additional familiarity with ArcGIS Online, Airtable, QuickBooks Online, Mailchimp, and Vimeo.