Putting Teeth into Community Benefit Agreements

Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) have long been a go-to tool for securing concessions from developers—such as local hiring targets, affordable housing units, or community spaces. In theory, they ensure that when a new project comes to town, neighborhood residents gain tangible benefits.

In practice, however, CBAs often lack enforceability once the developer secures permits and begins construction. Too frequently, the promised benefits either materialize late, arrive in watered-down form, or vanish altogether.

Plan for a community-owned co-op near an affordable housing development

Why do CBAs fall short? One major reason is that communities rarely have a binding mechanism to compel developer compliance. Agreements might exist on paper, but oversight is minimal, and legal recourse can be expensive or murky.

Another issue is timing: often, CBAs are hammered out in the early stages of a project, only for conditions to change dramatically during the building process. By the time residents realize the benefits are not forthcoming, the deal has already moved past the point of no return.

What if there were a way to give these agreements real “teeth”?

Enter the concept of community ownership stakes. By allowing residents to become co-investors through a structured co-op or land acquisition vehicle, the community’s interests are built directly into the project’s financial and legal framework. In other words, the people stand on equal footing with developers: if certain conditions—like building a set number of affordable units—aren’t met, the community has a legal right to demand compliance or claim its share of the project’s returns.

Communities don't want community benefits that no one can enforce, particularly 5-10 years later when larger developments begin to happen. They want ownership - so they are on the cap table when it does happen.

This shift from promised benefits to enforceable rights of ownership represents the next frontier for CBAs. It ensures communities remain vigilant throughout the project’s lifespan, not just at the negotiating table. By embedding local stakeholders in the ownership structure itself, developers gain reliable partners, and neighborhoods finally have the leverage to see that every promise is kept.