During the 2022 NADO Annual Training Conference, Ed Nusser shared information about the housing work of City of Bridges Community Land Trust, located in Pittsburgh, PA.
3. COMMUNITY LAND TRUSTS
● 50 year-old movement, began in Albany,
GA
● A unique approach to affordable
homeownership
● Attempts to balance preserving
communal wealth with building personal
wealth
4. The Earliest CLTs
• First CLT: New Communities Inc. Leesburg -
GA 1969
– Started by National Sharecroppers Fund to answer
the question of security for African-American tenant
farmers and sharecroppers who lacked the legal
protections of industrial workers.
– Largest Black-owned property in the US.
• First urban CLT: Community Land Cooperative
of Cincinnati - 1981
– Started by ecumenical association of pastors,
priests, and nuns worried about gentrification and
displacement.
5. Structure of
Homeownership
● CLT owns and holds title to the land
forever, Homeowner owns home
● CLT conveys use of land to income-
qualified homebuyer via a 99 year,
inheritable, renewable ground lease
● Ground lease (to land) and deed (to
home and land) are recorded with
County Real Estate Dept.
6. Permanently Affordable
Homeownership
● CLT homeowners, by signing the ground lease:
Agree to share with future homebuyers the
affordability that was initially created for them
Agree to a resale formula that will be used
to determine the price at which they can sell
their homes
7. Building Wealth
• Wealth Creation vs. Wealth Building
• When we talk about wealth “creation” what
we’re really talking about is wealth
extraction
• The CLT model seeks to change that by
recognizing
• We are all in this together
• Individual success is bound up
in collective success
• Community wealth should not
become privatized wealth
9. Comparison to Conventional
Homeownership
Key Differences:
Restrictions on use and resale value
Purchased through a leasehold mortgage rather
than fee simple mortgage
Key Similarities
Eligible for all income tax benefits of traditional
homeownership
Fully inheritable – absent income restrictions
10. POST-PURCHASE
STEWARDSHIP
CLT lays out clear expectations - and
monitors - and enforces - compliance
CLT enters into long-term, mutually
accountable relationships with
homeowners
CLT stands behind - and backstops - its
homeowners, to ensure their success.
11. HOMEOWNER SECURITY
Over 90% of CLT homeowners remain
in their homes at least five years
Historically, the average tenure of CLT
homeowners is seven years
Over 70% of CLT homeowners, when
they sell their CLT homes, purchase an
unrestricted, market-rate home
15. National Models
• Proud Ground – Portland, OR
– 5 county service area
– 280 homes
• City of Lakes – Minneapolis, MN
– Serves the entire city of Minneapolis
– 275 homes
• Champlain Housing Trust – Burlington, VT
– 3 county service area
– 620 single family homes, 2300 rental units
16. Results of National Scan & CLT Best
Practices
● Growing geographic service area
● Diverse portfolio
● Robust Partnerships
● Dedicated Stewardship Staff
● Guaranteed governance by CLT residents
20. Paths to CLT Housing
● CLT Developed Units
● Developed 20 homes to date
● 12 groundbreakings in next 6 months
● CLT-Managed Rentals
● Buyer Initiated Grants
Future Expansion
● LIHTC + CLT
● Cooperatives + CLT
21. Buyer-Initiated Program
• CBCLT provides a flexible grant to close the
gap between market and affordability.
– Around $45,000
• Buyer gets affordable mortgage; seller gets
their asking price.
• At closing, land comes to CBCLT and home
goes to buyer.
• Creates affordability faster and cheaper than
real estate development
23. Key Operational Issues
● No substitute for authentic community
engagement!
● Capital intensive work: $100k-$300k/home
GAP
● CLTs make bold promises that must be
kept
● Upfront and ongoing need for deep
partnerships
● Lenders
Changes the structure of traditional home ownership
Cultivate long-term relationships with residents, occupants, and users
Create PERMANENTLY affordable homeownership
I have an ambitious goal, I want to remove the phrase “wealth creation” from our social vocabulary. In our work, when you’re talking about real estate, wealth isn’t created it’s transferred. The only way a homeowner “creates” wealth by owning a home is if someone else has wealth to hand over to them when they sell the home.
This isn’t creation, it’s extraction. It’s extracting wealth from another person and it’s extracting wealth from a community.
This is especially helpful when we talk to funders, when you fund one CLT home you are actually funding affordable home ownership for as many as 14 households.
