Cape Fear Housing Land Trust
December 31st, 2009
Wilmington, NC home remodeler Mark Johnson Custom Homes would like to introduce our readers to the Cape Fear Housing Land Trust. The CFHLT was formed after members of the City of Wilmington and the Affordable Housing Coalition of Southeastern North Carolina saw the need for more affordable housing options in our area. Below is an excerpt from their website outlining what makes the CFHLT such a valuable organization to the Cape Fear area and to learn more, visit their website!
“For most American families, their investment in homeownership is their single most important source of wealth creation. Community Land Trusts are pioneers in coupling the individual wealth creation of generations of their homeowners with the prudent use of public funding for affordable housing. CFHLT achieves these mutually satisfying goals in the following three ways:
1. Removing the cost of the land – As land costs can make up over 40% of a home’s selling price – by keeping the land underneath a Land Trust home in the trust – the price per unit is significantly reduced.
2. Subsidizing the units, not the homeowner – Rather than subsidizing the homeowner, as many public affordable homeownership programs do, CFHLT places the subsidies directly into the units. This avoids the need to provide additional public subsidy each time there is a turnover.
3. Employing resale restrictions – Because the price of the land is taken out of the purchase price equation and because public subsidies are place into the home, Land Trust homeowners gain significant advantages. In exchange – CLT homebuyers agree that, when they sell, they will sell at a price determined by a resale formula designed to keep the unit affordable to other modest-income families.”
