The Florida Community Land Trust Institute
Find Out More at the Florida Community Land Trust Blog.

While Florida's land values continue to climb, and as communities grapple with the complex issues of sustainable affordable housing, local governments and their nonprofit partners are examining alternative models for addressing the long-term needs of residents least served by the prevailing market.

A community land trust can benefit low-income families by providing access to affordable housing in high cost, service-industry dependent areas, while keeping housing affordable for future residents. Just as importantly, the CLT model can be used to capture the value of public investment for long-term community benefit.

What Is A Community Land Trust?

A community land trust refers to the vehicle of separating land from building (house) for the purpose of transferring title to the house without selling the land. It also denotes the nonprofit organization that holds title to the land and manages the ground leases on community land trust properties.

Homeownership becomes more affordable because the transfer of title to the homeowner does not include a fee interest in the land; the sales price is based on the value of the improvements, without the value of the land. The land is owned by a 501(c)(3) corporation which provides a 99-year ground lease to the homeowner.

The ground lease has a resale provision which ensures the property will be affordable in perpetuity. The home must be sold to an income-eligible buyer at an affordable price. The resale provision will typically provide a reasonable return to the homeowner, but the appreciation may be far less than standard market appreciation. The resale provision will also typically provide a right of first refusal in favor of the CLT.

From the standpoint of the buyer, the CLT home provides homeownership in a market where the alternative is to rent or move away. From the standpoint of the local government, society, funders providing subsidy, and affordable housing advocates in general, the CLT provides a way of creating permanent housing stock with a single subsidy.

The Florida Community Land Trust Institute provides assistance with:

• Assessing whether a community land trust is appropriate for your community and, if so, which model makes the most sense for your community.
• Understanding the terms of the ground lease and options for resale provisions.
• Start up for the nonprofit community land trust.
• Capacity building for the nonprofit community land trust.
• Homebuyer counseling for community land trust purchasers.
• Internal operations and marketing for the community land trust.
• Legal questions such as title and real property tax issues.
• All manner of real property development and financing issues.

The Florida Community Land Trust Institute is a collaboration between two statewide 501(c) (3) organizations, 1000 Friends of Florida and the Florida Housing Coalition. It is headed by Jaimie Ross, Attorney-at-Law, and Affordable Housing Director at 1000 Friends of Florida. Training and the technical assistance team is headed by Gladys Schneider and Stan Fitterman of the Florida Housing Coalition. For more information, call the Florida Housing Coalition at 850.878.4219, or e-mail jaimieross@aol.com.