Cohousing-L Mailing List: Community Land Trust / affordability

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

Two recent threads on Cohousing-L "Land Trust/Conservation Easement" and
"Equity Co-op" lead nicely to a discussion of a Community Land Trusts 
( CLT ) and their potential for some permanent improved affordability. 
Actually Raines has already addressed this some in replies on both
threads. A Community Land Trust is the name of the variant of a land trust
that Raines described: 

Raines Cohen wrote to Cohousing-L in message with subject
[C-L]_Land Trust/Conservation Easement : 

> Actually, Land Trusts are actually being employed as a tool for 
> affordability in small urban developments. The City of Oakland is
> helping set one up, and the Northern California Land Trust has 
> been active in this area, especially in Berkeley. By taking the 
> land price out of the unit costs, and leasing the structures to 
> a cohousing community or co-op, units can be much more affordable. 
> However, someone's still gotta pay for the land to begin with, but 
> Land Trusts can be a tool for getting outside 
> city and private grants and low-cost loans out of funds dedicated to 
> housing affordability.

Our little retrofit cohousing-like community here in Minneapolis is
considering using the CLT mechanism with 2 houses on our block. 

Adapted from the Northern California Land Trust web site,
http://www.nclt.org :

   Unlike other affordable housing organizations, a Community Land Trust (
   CLT ) ensures that homes it builds or rehabilitates remain accessibly
   priced beyond the first homeowners. This is possible by using the
   community land trust model through which the CLT retains the rights to
   the land upon which the home stands. The land is leased to the owner of
   the house. When a homeowner wishes to sell the house, the CLT ensures
   the selling price is affordable, regardless of current market prices.

Community Land Trust definition from Institute for Community Economics
http://www.iceclt.org/clt : 

   A community land trust is a private non-profit corporation created to
   acquire and hold land for the benefit of a community and provide
   secure affordable access to land and housing for community residents.
   In particular, CLTs attempt to meet the needs of residents least
   served by the prevailing market. Community land trusts help
   communities to:
     * Gain control over local land use and reduce absentee ownership
     * Provide affordable housing for lower income residents in the
       community
     * Promote resident ownership and control of housing
     * Keep housing affordable for future residents
     * Capture the value of public investment for long-term community
       benefit
     * Build a strong base for community action

Raines Cohen wrote to Cohousing-L in message with subject
Re: [C-L]_Equity Co-op

> A co-op ownership structure can provide for investment in shares of the
> organization, with the mortgage held on the entire structure 
> collectively by the organization. Downsides include higher interest 
> rates;  possible benefits include use of a Land Trust or similar 
> mechanism to detach the land value from the unit prices. 

For more information check out:

Institute for Community Economics http://www.iceclt.org 
Northern California Land Trust    http://www.nclt.org

Fred

--
Fred H. Olson  Minneapolis,MN 55411   (near north Mpls)
fholson [at] cohousing.org 612-588-9532 (7am-10pm Cent time) 
List manager of Cohousing-L & Nbhd-tc  Ham radio:WB0YQM          
Email signature details: http://www.cohousing.org/fholson



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