Homes as More than Wealth

When I first started learning about community land trusts, I was both intrigued and mildly confused. The purpose and mission behind CLTs was apparent and noble:  to preserve affordability for generations and encourage homeownership for people and families who might otherwise be priced out of our market system. 

The way it basically works is the land trust continues to own the land (via a ground lease) while the buyer takes out a mortgage on the house. In the case of Mosaic Community Land Trust, of Pottstown, the mortgage, property taxes, and insurance are capped at 30 percent of the applicant’s total income. So when I put in my application for a rowhouse on E. Second Street, I was grateful for the fortuitous irony of all of this if I  – the director of the Montco 30% Project – am lucky enough to secure a mortgage and move into the renovated home. 

Now for the part that is counter-intuitive to many Americans:   CLT homes do not build wealth for their owners in the conventional sense. In fact, when you pay off the mortgage and if you go to sell your home, you are required to maintain affordability for the next buyer (due to a resale formula attached to the ground lease). You don’t get to capitalize on a potentially hot real estate market and flip it for twice the price you paid. And I love this. It’s really a fair “pay it forward” concept. 

Our neighborhoods across Pennsylvania should be supporting the CLT model as a sustainable path to homeownership. 

Community support and service are the life blood of land trusts. Volunteers provide some of the labor to help clean up homes and prepare them for renovations. 

Recently, I got to experience this first-hand at a work site owned by Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery and Delaware counties. Their model is a bit different, which at this time does not involve a land trust but rather a 0% interest mortgage and required service hours. A group of volunteers of all ages from all across the county descended upon a rowhome in need of serious weeding and tree trimming on Walnut Street. 

I asked a volunteer named John how he heard about this project and he replied simply, “Jimmy Carter.” The death of America’s oldest living president turned a spotlight on one of his many passion projects – Habitat for Humanity. 

In just three hours, our group filled a large truck with tree branches, weeds, and litter. 

Volunteers can search for nearby service projects here. 

I feel incredibly fortunate to have an opportunity to become a homeowner. After years of convincing myself I could never afford it as a single adult, the community land trust model has shown me that we should expect more for ourselves and our neighbors. One month after my parents received approval for a “workforce” apartment in Delaware – subsidized for those at 60-80%  of the area median income – my family is grateful. 

We need to invest resources and money into models that work – and in the process – reduce rent burdens and open up new doors of opportunity for more people. 

Habitat for Humanity volunteers posed for a group photo at the end of their work day.