 Housing has always been America’s greatest asset building strategy. For most American families, their investment in homeownership is their single most important source of wealth creation. Similarly, public sector investment in housing also generates valuable assets. Most homeownership subsidy programs use public money to build what is almost entirely private wealth. The homebuyers can realize significant growth in the value of their homes over time, but none of that value is available to help other families in the future and, the public sector must invest new money for each family assisted into homeownership.
Subsidized rental housing generally offers the resident families no real opportunity to build individual assets, but because these units remain affordable to one family after another, rental housing can be seen as producing community wealth. From the point of view of asset building, public housing programs have tended to be all or nothing. Either you rent and receive none of the asset building benefit or you own and receive it all.
The Delray Beach Community Land Trust (DBCLT) is one of several affordable and workforce housing initiatives that City residents, government leaders, and concerned stakeholders recently created to provide a middle ground where both the individual families and the community at large share in the long-term affordability and wealth creation that results from the wise investment of public money in privately owned housing.
The DBCLT is an independent, 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that was formed by community stakeholders in December, 2005 to preserve the affordability of homeownership and rental units in the City of Delray Beach. The DBCLT will sell or rent homes to qualified very low to moderate-income families, but retain ownership to the land under these homes and hold it “in trust” for future generations. Buyers of DBCLT homes agree that when they move they will sell or rent the homes to other low to moderate-income families at a price that is affordable. By owning the land under the house, the land trust is in a strong position to insure that the subsidy is retained for the benefit of subsequent families.
The City of Delray Beach and the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) are the primary sponsors of the DBCLT. Both the City and the DBCRA donated land to the DBCLT, and the City of Delray Beach provide additional subsidies to DBCLT home owners to further increase the affordability of the homes. Additional funding for the land trust will come from private developers through the Housing Trust Fund, which was established by the recently enacted City of Delray Beach Workforce Housing Ordinance. Grants and donations also assist with ongoing land acquisition, construction, and operational expenses. The DBCLT plans to partner with other non-profit housing and family support agencies to develop the housing, and provide a wide range of services to DBCLT home owners and tenants.
The DBCLT is governed by a twelve member board of directors that includes a majority of community residents, along with representatives from the City, DBCRA, and the Delray Beach Housing Authority. Membership in the DBCLT is available to anyone that wishes to support the DBCLT in its mission of providing high quality, permanently affordable housing. |
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