Focus on: Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Caño Martín Peña

Every week, the CoHabitat Network introduces you to a collaborative housing project documented on the cohabitat.io database.

The Fideicomiso de la Tierra del Caño Martín Peña is an innovative and grassroots led community land trust designed by residents of historically disenfranchised and underserved informal settlements at the heart of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to secure land rights and prevent displacement and gentrification as an unintended consequence of an environmental restoration project that will transform the city.

Working with the community based G-8 and ENLACE, and through strong organizing and partnerships, it has kick-started local businesses, engaged youth, and helped relocate over 700 families into safe housing, mostly within the neighborhoods, to allow for suitable infrastructure development.

Aims and Objectives

• Legalise the relationship between more than 2,000 families and the land on which their homes stand.
• Guarantee affordable and safe housing.
• Resettle people who lived in high-risk areas in a fair and reasonable way.
• Improve environmental conditions by developing basic infrastructure and dredging the channel.
• Ensure ownership and management of the area by the community and for the community.

▶ More infos on cohabitat.io

This project is a winner of the World Habitat Awards 2015.