Miami-Dade County Approves Community Land Trust

Miami-Dade County approved plans to establish a community land trust (CLT) designed to streamline the production of 50 new units of affordable housing, according to an article by Deirdra Funcheon in Axios.

Community land trusts are becoming an effective way for nonprofit organizations to facilitate homeownership for low-income households. As Funcheon explains, “For a nominal fee, the nonprofit gives the homeowner a 99-year lease to use the land, which essentially confers the same benefits as ownership.”

In the CLT model, “The homeowner is allowed to later sell the home but only for a slight profit and to another low-income buyer, keeping the property affordable as it changes hands.”

Funcheon adds, “Jennie Lopez, strategic initiatives manager in the office of Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, tells Axios the administration has also added incentives for CLTs to various affordable housing programs, and that the county has committed $4 million in affordable housing funds to a 13-unit CLT townhome project in Little Haiti.”