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What is a Community Land Trust?Community land trusts develop housing through renovation or new construction and sell the homes to low- to moderate-income families. The community land trust leases the land to the families, who agree to restrictions on how the house can be sold in the future. As a result, community land trusts are able to produce high-quality affordable housing and keep it affordable. This 30-year old model is at work in over 225 communities throughout the nation. There are more than one hundred community land trusts in the U.S. overseeing more than 5,000 units of housing.
How Does it Work? In the conventional market, the homeowner owns their house and owns the land underneath it. In the community land trust model the homeowner owns the house and the community land trust owns the land. Much like a rental lease, a ground lease outlines the rights and responsibilities of the home owner and landowner. Two Rivers CLT retains an option to repurchase the homes located upon its land, should the owners ever choose to sell. The resale price is set by a formula, contained in the ground lease, and is designed to give the present homeowners a fair return on their investment, while giving future homebuyers fair access to housing at an affordable price.
Analysis of the Community Land Trust Resale Formula
Building Community Wealth and Homeowner Assets Community land trusts build wealth for communities and homeowners. The community gets permanently affordable housing and the homeowners get all of the advantages of owning a home- security, a chance for appreciated value, tax benefits, and a bridge between rental and market-rate homeownership. Helping low-income families make that transition- from renting to owning, and taking pride in their own home- is one of the hallmarks of the community land trusts. With the cost of land removed from the home sales price, community land trusts make homeownership a reality for thousands of families who thought it was out of reach. Stabilizing Communities and Creating Economic Viability Two Rivers Community Land Trust is playing a role in Anoka and Washington counties in MN and St Croix and Pierce counties in WI economic future by:
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