What is a community land trust?
TURF Land Trust is a RENTAL community land trust in Santa Cruz County, California.
TURF Land Trust creates, preserves and/or rehabilitates RENTAL housing for residents whose incomes are 50% of the AMI or below, and purchases farmland, conserves it with easements, and LEASES it to organic farmers in Santa Cruz County, California.
“Community land trusts balance the needs of individuals to access land and maintain security of tenure with a community’s need to maintain affordability, economic diversity and local access to essential services."
-Wikipedia
"CLTs are nonprofit organizations that provide lasting community assets for lower income families and communities who are marginalized by the market. CLTs develop rural or urban agriculture projects, commercial spaces that serve local communities, permanently affordable housing (e.g. rentals, cooperaatives, and owner occipied homes), and conserve land or urban green spaces."
-Emily Thaden & Jeffrey S. Lowe
A community land trust (CLT) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. It is a versatile land trust model that has the capacity to facilitate long-term affordability of rental housing and leased farmland, as well as commercial properties.
During the initial CLT planning process, participation is solicited from many and varied community stakeholders. A variety of enterprises may be undertaken by a CLT.
Conservation land trusts such as the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County focus on conserving undeveloped land, and some farmland. Because LTSCC conserves large tracts, successful financing depends on bargaining for the best price per acre.
The original community land trust has a different focus than a conservation land trust. The essential goal is to create stable, long-term access to land and homes for lower-income Americans, in perpetuity.
TURF Land Trust (Tenants & Urban/Rural Farmers) is specifically a rental land trust. Ownership of land and buildings will be retained by TURF in perpetuity. Contracts will be for land lease or home rental. There will be no homes sold, only rented. TURF may build new buildings for rent or lease. Qualifying for home loans will not be an issue to live in a TURF housing unit. TURF will design homes that include space for nature, gardens, and outside living. TURF will institute new Renter Equity programs and foster strong communities.
TURF would like to see new opportunities for long-term tenancy assuage the PTSD suffered by local tenants, whiplashed from impossibly-high rent to excruciatingly-high rent, even ending up unhoused - whilst wages remain at the same sub-par level that Santa Cruz is infamous for.
Since the economic meltdown of 2008, many Americans have lost their houses and the ability to qualify for home loans. Community Land Trusts which originally focused on fostering low-income home ownership now find they have houses sitting empty as hardly anyone can qualify for home loans any more. These CLTs have decided to rent the empty houses, initiating a growth in the number of rental CLTs in the Unites States. Due to that growth, there are new studies which delineate successes and failures of financing techniques for CLT rental housing. TURF will learn a lot from these case studies, and avoid pitfalls.
TURF Land Trust hopes to be a little sister to the great works done by MidPen Housing, California FarmLink, the Farm Bureau, Altera Solar, Mercy Housing, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, First Community Housing, and many other local, conscientious developers and land use organizations.
In Santa Cruz County, land is at its most expensive in the United States. The mountains, hills, soils, waters, valleys, streams, sea - and the sweetly unique coolness of our air have historically been great sources of health, joy, beauty, bounty, life and wealth. Now, the cities push at our door. Fortunately, it's a strong door - the Santa Cruz Mountains. Yet the proximity of immense wealth foreshadows a great loss for many long-term residents who have stewarded the earth's beauty in this corner of the universe.
Before the 2008 economic meltdown, a lot of CLTs acquired land with houses, or built houses if they bought just land. The houses were sold at below-market rate to working class people so they could qualify for home loans and pay mortgages and still have enough disposable income to participate in the local economy and create savings, which, for a variety of sociopolitical reasons, became increasingly difficult from about 1980 on. CLTs own the land, the owners own the houses, and there are resale caps on the houses as a condition of ownership, to preserve workforce housing in perpetuity.
Some CLTs decide to focus on creating and preserving access to urban, semi-urban, or rural land for farmers and gardeners. Another kind of non-residential land trust property can be a commercial building that's made available to local business people at workforce rates. That would certainly be of interest in Santa Cruz County!
TURF Land Trust currently has a combined mission to provide access to residential and non-residential land. TURF's non-residential emphasis is on improving access to organic, leased farmland. According to the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce:
"There are 682 farms in Santa Cruz County covering 47,489 acres with the average farm covering 70 acres. These farms sell $447,417,000 on the market with the crop sales covering $433,545,000 and livestock sales covering $13,872,000. The government has paid out $40,000 dollars with the average farm receiving $7,924."
The residential aspect focuses on creating workforce-priced rental housing. The lack of workforce rental housing is one of the main issues hobbling Santa Cruz County's economic growth.
From the Draft of the Economic Vitality Strategy, Planning Department of the County of Santa Cruz, 2014:
"...the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found Santa Cruz County to be the least affordable metropolitan area in the US with less than 500,000 residents.According to theNAHB, the median price of homes sold in 1 2013 was 426,000 and only 37.1 percent of homes sold were affordable to households earning the area medain income. Prices has increased since that time, and in February 2014 the NAHB reported that within small housing markets, the Santa Cruz-Watsonville housing market was at the very bottom of the affordability chart, where 18.6 percent of all new and existing homes sold were affordable to families earning the areas' median income of $73,800. Also, prices for rental housing have been increasing, and a recent study indicated that a working resident of Santa Cruz County would need to earn $28 per hour in order to pay the sate defined "normal" 32 percent of household income to cover the average housing cost."
There's no denying that high land value, though good for some, is one of the primary obstacles for many stakeholders in Santa Cruz County. TURF will spend a lot of its building period devising strategic approaches to financing real estate purchases in our high-demand area. One CLT that has used innovative financing mechanisms is the San Francisco Community Land Trust. I believe TURF, too, can re-direct holders of immense wealth in our region to focus on solving land access issues in our tiny county.
And so - TURF Land Trust throws down the gauntlet.
If taking up the challenge appeals to you - please contact us!
Se Habla Español
TURF Land Trust creates, preserves and/or rehabilitates RENTAL housing for residents whose incomes are 50% of the AMI or below, and purchases farmland, conserves it with easements, and LEASES it to organic farmers in Santa Cruz County, California.
“Community land trusts balance the needs of individuals to access land and maintain security of tenure with a community’s need to maintain affordability, economic diversity and local access to essential services."
-Wikipedia
"CLTs are nonprofit organizations that provide lasting community assets for lower income families and communities who are marginalized by the market. CLTs develop rural or urban agriculture projects, commercial spaces that serve local communities, permanently affordable housing (e.g. rentals, cooperaatives, and owner occipied homes), and conserve land or urban green spaces."
-Emily Thaden & Jeffrey S. Lowe
A community land trust (CLT) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. It is a versatile land trust model that has the capacity to facilitate long-term affordability of rental housing and leased farmland, as well as commercial properties.
During the initial CLT planning process, participation is solicited from many and varied community stakeholders. A variety of enterprises may be undertaken by a CLT.
Conservation land trusts such as the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County focus on conserving undeveloped land, and some farmland. Because LTSCC conserves large tracts, successful financing depends on bargaining for the best price per acre.
The original community land trust has a different focus than a conservation land trust. The essential goal is to create stable, long-term access to land and homes for lower-income Americans, in perpetuity.
TURF Land Trust (Tenants & Urban/Rural Farmers) is specifically a rental land trust. Ownership of land and buildings will be retained by TURF in perpetuity. Contracts will be for land lease or home rental. There will be no homes sold, only rented. TURF may build new buildings for rent or lease. Qualifying for home loans will not be an issue to live in a TURF housing unit. TURF will design homes that include space for nature, gardens, and outside living. TURF will institute new Renter Equity programs and foster strong communities.
TURF would like to see new opportunities for long-term tenancy assuage the PTSD suffered by local tenants, whiplashed from impossibly-high rent to excruciatingly-high rent, even ending up unhoused - whilst wages remain at the same sub-par level that Santa Cruz is infamous for.
Since the economic meltdown of 2008, many Americans have lost their houses and the ability to qualify for home loans. Community Land Trusts which originally focused on fostering low-income home ownership now find they have houses sitting empty as hardly anyone can qualify for home loans any more. These CLTs have decided to rent the empty houses, initiating a growth in the number of rental CLTs in the Unites States. Due to that growth, there are new studies which delineate successes and failures of financing techniques for CLT rental housing. TURF will learn a lot from these case studies, and avoid pitfalls.
TURF Land Trust hopes to be a little sister to the great works done by MidPen Housing, California FarmLink, the Farm Bureau, Altera Solar, Mercy Housing, Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, First Community Housing, and many other local, conscientious developers and land use organizations.
In Santa Cruz County, land is at its most expensive in the United States. The mountains, hills, soils, waters, valleys, streams, sea - and the sweetly unique coolness of our air have historically been great sources of health, joy, beauty, bounty, life and wealth. Now, the cities push at our door. Fortunately, it's a strong door - the Santa Cruz Mountains. Yet the proximity of immense wealth foreshadows a great loss for many long-term residents who have stewarded the earth's beauty in this corner of the universe.
Before the 2008 economic meltdown, a lot of CLTs acquired land with houses, or built houses if they bought just land. The houses were sold at below-market rate to working class people so they could qualify for home loans and pay mortgages and still have enough disposable income to participate in the local economy and create savings, which, for a variety of sociopolitical reasons, became increasingly difficult from about 1980 on. CLTs own the land, the owners own the houses, and there are resale caps on the houses as a condition of ownership, to preserve workforce housing in perpetuity.
Some CLTs decide to focus on creating and preserving access to urban, semi-urban, or rural land for farmers and gardeners. Another kind of non-residential land trust property can be a commercial building that's made available to local business people at workforce rates. That would certainly be of interest in Santa Cruz County!
TURF Land Trust currently has a combined mission to provide access to residential and non-residential land. TURF's non-residential emphasis is on improving access to organic, leased farmland. According to the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce:
"There are 682 farms in Santa Cruz County covering 47,489 acres with the average farm covering 70 acres. These farms sell $447,417,000 on the market with the crop sales covering $433,545,000 and livestock sales covering $13,872,000. The government has paid out $40,000 dollars with the average farm receiving $7,924."
The residential aspect focuses on creating workforce-priced rental housing. The lack of workforce rental housing is one of the main issues hobbling Santa Cruz County's economic growth.
From the Draft of the Economic Vitality Strategy, Planning Department of the County of Santa Cruz, 2014:
"...the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found Santa Cruz County to be the least affordable metropolitan area in the US with less than 500,000 residents.According to theNAHB, the median price of homes sold in 1 2013 was 426,000 and only 37.1 percent of homes sold were affordable to households earning the area medain income. Prices has increased since that time, and in February 2014 the NAHB reported that within small housing markets, the Santa Cruz-Watsonville housing market was at the very bottom of the affordability chart, where 18.6 percent of all new and existing homes sold were affordable to families earning the areas' median income of $73,800. Also, prices for rental housing have been increasing, and a recent study indicated that a working resident of Santa Cruz County would need to earn $28 per hour in order to pay the sate defined "normal" 32 percent of household income to cover the average housing cost."
There's no denying that high land value, though good for some, is one of the primary obstacles for many stakeholders in Santa Cruz County. TURF will spend a lot of its building period devising strategic approaches to financing real estate purchases in our high-demand area. One CLT that has used innovative financing mechanisms is the San Francisco Community Land Trust. I believe TURF, too, can re-direct holders of immense wealth in our region to focus on solving land access issues in our tiny county.
And so - TURF Land Trust throws down the gauntlet.
If taking up the challenge appeals to you - please contact us!
Se Habla Español