Local Approach
Our region has a proud history of community-led solutions & innovation. We want to build on that legacy, so that our towns stay vibrant, diverse & inclusive.
WWCLT is focused on providing long-term, secure, and affordable housing for locals and key workers in our community.
Local Approach
The housing challenge
Across our region, affordable housing is disappearing. Many local residents - including workers, families, and people on low incomes - are struggling to find secure and stable homes. Some have been forced to leave the area altogether, while others are living in unsafe or unstable situations because housing costs are simply too high.
The crisis is also affecting local services. Nurses, teachers, hospitality workers, and other essential staff have reported living in tents, cars, or couch-surfing because they can’t access housing they can afford. Without stable housing, it’s harder for people to live healthy, connected lives - and our communities risk losing the diversity and vitality that make them special.
How will we do it?
Our purpose is to create and protect truly affordable housing for local people - not just now, but forever. We do this by securing land and removing it from the private market, ensuring that homes built on it remain permanently affordable. By developing secure, low-cost housing for those in need, we’re offering real, lasting solutions to the housing crisis facing our region. Beyond housing, we also support other community-led projects that align with our mission - all working toward a future where everyone has access to a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.
The Problem
Affordable housing is disappearing. Local workers, families and people on low to moderate incomes can’t find secure homes. Some have been forced to leave the area or are living in cars, tents or overcrowded homes. Even essential workers – like nurses and teachers – have trouble finding somewhere affordable to live.
Without a stable home, it’s hard to live a healthy, secure life. Our community risks losing key workers, young families and long-time locals. Higher housing costs are pushing people out – and changing the face of our towns. Local businesses and services are finding it increasingly difficult to keep operating because their staff can’t afford to live here.
Our Solution
At WWCLT we believe everyone deserves a safe, secure and affordable place to call home - even if they can’t afford high market rents or home prices. Housing is a human right, and without it, individuals struggle to thrive and communities can’t function at their best.
WWCLT is a community-led, not-for-profit initiative creating long-term, local solutions to the housing crisis. We're focused on delivering affordable, sustainable homes for people on local incomes — especially those in the 'missing middle': individuals and families who don't qualify for social housing but are priced out of the private market.
By working in partnership with Bellingen Shire Council and other community stakeholders, we’re developing practical, lasting solutions that meet the real needs of our region. Our goal is simple: to keep housing in community hands and ensure affordability — not just for today, but for generations to come.
Local Approach
What are CLTs?
A Community Land Trust is a non-profit organisation that holds title to property aimed at delivering permanently affordable housing and other community benefits. To ensure they meet the needs of the community they serve, CLTs are characterised by active voting memberships that include, but are not limited to, residents of the CLT’s homes.
In addition to permanently affordable homes that can be rental through to ownership, many CLTs also steward a range of community, open space and/or commercial properties in response to local need.
CLTs remove land from the speculative housing market. This provides security and stability for residents at an affordable price and ensures affordable housing for future generations.
WWCLT is focusing (at least initially) on a shared ownership model, where WWCLT and residents enter into a shared ownership agreement.
Understanding Community Land Trusts: a growing resource series
WWCLT has created a library of plain English resources to help people understand the Community Land Trust model and how it’s being applied locally to create secure, permanently affordable housing.
Whether you’re a local resident, potential partner, or a community exploring your own CLT, these information sheets explain key aspects of the model in accessible language.
You’ll also find a Plain English Guide to the WWCLT Constitution, outlining how the WWCLT is structured, governed, and accountable.
As WWCLT evolves, this series will continue to grow, supporting informed decision-making and encouraging wider adoption of community-led housing across Australia.
If you’re looking for organisational materials such as annual reports, policies, or strategic plans, visit our Organisational Documents section.
FAQs
Understanding CLT’s
-
A CLT is a form of shared home ownership that is run by and for the community that makes it possible for people on local wages to live and work here.
CLTs give residents access to many of the benefits which typify home ownership such as long-term security and greater autonomy in the use of their home. Click here for a fact sheet on the CLT’s purpose.
-
A CLT is a not-for-profit, community-based entity that enters into a long-term agreement with residents, typically through co-ownership or a 99-year lease model.
CLTs take the land value component of the property off the market which locks affordability into perpetuity. This makes them affordable to current and future generations of residents.
If a resident decides to sell their home, the resale price is capped or limited via a legally binding and pre-determined formula, often called a ‘reversionary formular.’
Residents may be able to realise some capital gain, but they will not be able to access windfall gains which would take housing out of reach for future potential participants. This delivers affordable housing into perpetuity!
By removing the property from the speculative market, CLTs stabilise communities impacted by rapid rises in house prices, ensuring that local people on local wages can afford to ‘stay put.’
CLTs are typically managed to encourage community stewardship and representative governance. This commonly requires the establishment of a governing board drawn from three key groups: CLT residents, CLT membership and the community.
This form of ‘tripartite’ representative governance ensures that the CLT is effectively managed on behalf of the broader community. In the overseas context, the tripartite board structure has allowed the CLT sector to emerge as a robust, transparently managed, and trusted affordable home ownership model.
-
Multiple sources of local land that could potentially be used to create a CLT, such as faith-based land, government land and philanthropic donations. The Bellingen Shire CLT Establishment Project is exploring all these possibilities.
Acquisition of land for a CLT could happen in a number of ways. Voluntary planning agreements (VPAs) could be a mechanism for developers to contribute land to the CLT in return for concessions from council.
The upcoming Rural Land Strategy consultation process could also explore introducing incentives to rural landholders to carve off small parcels of land for the CLT. The CLT is also a mechanism by which local people can donate land if they are keen to make a difference and are able to help.
-
When a CLT acquires a parcel of land, there may already be a single-household dwelling or a multi-unit building on the land. In other cases, CLTs become active developers, constructing new housing on lands they have recently acquired or previously “banked” for future development. CLTs may also work with residents to individually manage the development of their future home.
In some overseas examples, CLTs make land available to another non-profit organisation, such as a community housing provider for the construction of affordable housing. In a growing number of communities, affordably priced homes come into a CLT’s portfolio because of planning provisions, including inclusionary zoning, density bonuses, or other regulatory mandates or incentives.
-
CLTs are very flexible in the types of housing they develop – or allow to be developed – on their land. They work with local communities and residents to deliver the kind of housing that best meets local needs.
Some CLTs focus on detached, single-household dwellings. Others are engaged in the construction and stewardship of multi-unit residential projects that deliver higher-density outcomes. While others have a mixed portfolio.
CLT dwellings can be co-located on one block of land, peppered throughout the community, or a mixture of both approaches. The model is very flexible and responsive to local needs and opportunities.
-
The model is not a silver bullet that will solve the local housing crisis overnight. In the short term, it will work best for moderate-income households and/or households who have access to some equity. We know that these households are struggling in the current housing market, often priced-out of home ownership and into a tight and expensive and insecure rental market.
The CLT model can deliver better housing outcomes for households who are stuck in the middle – they are ineligible for social housing and cannot access expensive private home ownership.
Over the longer term, we hope that the WWCLT can serve the unmet housing needs of lower-income residents too.
-
WWCLT will prioritise households in the ‘missing middle’ who can demonstrate the following:
they are local workers and/or local people with access to some equity
they have local connections
they fall within the specified income range and assets limits
Click here for a fact sheet on ‘Eligibility Criteria’
-
Register your interest in becoming a future CLT resident
Sign up to our WWCLT mailing list to receive regular updates
Become a member
Join the WWCLT Working Group that is open to residents keen to support the project
To discuss donating land and/or resources please contact clt@housingmatters.org.au or call 0494 331 821
Or get in contact via our contact page
Understanding Waterfall Way CLT
Information Sheets & Resources
These information sheets have been designed to answer as many of your questions as possible. If you still have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
-
01 How to use these resources
02 What is a CLT
03 Why are we starting a CLT
04 What is the purpose of WWCLT
05 Eligibility Criteria to be a Resident
06 How will WWCLT allocate housing
10 Resale Formula
13 How Does CLT Get and Protect Land
14 What is CLT Shared Ownership
-
07 Governance structure of WWCLT
08 How are Decisions Made
09 What does the Board of Directors do
11 Key Roles in WWCLT
12 Who is a General Member
15 Dispute Resolution
-
10 Resale Formula
13 How Does CLT Get and Protect Land
14 What is CLT Shared Ownership
-
05 Eligibility Criteria to be a Resident
06 How will WWCLT allocate housing
12 Who is a General Member
-
07 Governance structure of WWCLT
08 How are Decisions Made
09 What does the Board of Directors do
Eligibility & Registration of Interest
Our eligibility and allocation process is designed to be fair, transparent and accountable, ensuring that homes go to those who need them most and who share our community-focused values.
To be eligible to buy a home through WWCLT, you’ll need to meet the following criteria:
Strong Connection to the Bellingen Shire
Support WWCLT Vision and Purpose
Be Willing to Participate & Contribute
You will also need to:
Meet the income limits
Meet the asset rules (i.e. not already own property)
If you’re interested in becoming a potential Resident Member, the next step is to complete a Registration of Interest (ROI) form. Filling out the form doesn’t guarantee you a home and doesn’t commit you to anything - it simply adds your name to our list so we can keep you updated as housing opportunities arise. It also helps us understand what types and sizes of homes people are looking for, which is important for planning future projects.
