Community Land Trust

WeBuild Concord, formerly the Concord Family Enrichment Association, was launched by the City of Concord in May of 2021. WeBuild Concord is a as a nonprofit established to develop equitable strategies for affordable housing and merge private, public and social resources for wealth creation and economic mobility for residents. Beginning with the 2020-2021 fiscal budget, the city gave 1 cent of the tax rate to affordable housing. This investment is set to recur each year, equaling $2.8 million for affordable housing: $1.4 million from the recurring tax rate and $1.4 million from the city’s return on investment the previous year.

Future housing projects scheduled for the beginning of 2022, will be developed with resources from WeBuild Concord, the City of Concord, and Cabarrus County. The Lincoln Street Townhomes Project, a 26-unit townhome development, will provide residents earning less than 80 percent of the area median income (AMI) an opportunity to own their homes. The Lincoln Street Project will be in the historic Logan Community. WeBuild Concord also announced a partnership with the City of Concord to provide several single-family homes during the same period.

In September 2021, WeBuild Concord lead community partners, stakeholders, non-traditional community leaders and community members through the proess of developing a Cabarrus County Community Land Trust (CLT) model. CFEA contracted Grounded Solutions to facilitate 5, 1-hour sessions to provide a general overview of CLTs, as well as assist with the identification of next steps and understand the road ahead to developing a local CLT.

WeBuild Concord settled on a resale formula and shared equity model for the Community Land Trust. Those homeowners who purchase a home through the land trust, will be guaranteed a 2.5% increase each year regardless of the market. Within the first two quarters of 2022, WeBuild Concord announced several multi-family and single-family developments. The Lincoln Street Townhome Project will consist of twenty-six townhome units reserved for affordable ownership for households earning 60-80% of the area median income. According to Executive Director Patrick Graham, the Lincoln Street Townhome project, located in Concord's Logan Community will consiste of two-thirds of the units being in the land trust, with the other one-third designated for workforce housing.

Concord and Cabarrus County residents who are low- and moderate-income renters and homebuyers.

Community land trusts (CLTs) are private, non-profit organizations that purchase land to lease to residents with low and middle incomes for housing use. CLTs separate ownership of the home and the land it occupies, which reduces the size of a mortgage and lowers monthly mortgage payments. The land the home is on is leased to homeowners as part of a long-term ground lease, typically for 99 years. CLT agreements require homes be owner occupied and stipulate that the home may not be rented out or “flipped” by renovating it for quick resale. As part of their shared-equity agreement, homeowners on CLT-owned land are required to sell the home back to the CLT or to another resident with low income at an affordable price when they decide to move. CLTs may also purchase and hold land to support community development, open space efforts, community gardens, and similar initiatives. CLTs often include stewardship activities such as teaching expectant and new homeowners about finances, alerting them to high risk loans, and assisting potentially delinquent homeowners. (Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - What Works for Health)

Community Land Trusts can:

Can help create partnerships by bringing together various members of the community, including developers, affordable housing advocates, government officials, and low- and moderate-income households.

• CLT staff can provide expertise on financial resources for affordable housing to city planners and private developers.
• Provides for long-term affordable housing needs, as the CLT owns the land and keeps the housing affordable long-term, often in perpetuity.
• Can counter neighborhood disinvestment by introducing resident control over land.
• CLTs often work in conjunction with other local strategies, such as a housing trust fund,
• demolition taxes, or inclusionary zoning ordinances, creating a synergistic and multifaceted approach to affordable strategies.