This opinion column was provided by Kyle Isaksen, the Democratic candidate for the Washoe County, Third District committee. His campaign website is kyleforwashoe.com.
Since this campaign began in January, I have had many conversations with voters. And with our great volunteers, we’ve knocked on over 3,500 doors since March 5 – when it was snowing!
By far the issue that people care about is affordable housing. There are many things we can do as a county and state to support the development of affordable housing and my website delves into many ideas. But here I’ll talk to one of them: Community Land Trusts (CLTs).
My understanding of the problem of affordable housing did not begin with my conversations with voters. In 2015, my wife and I purchased a vacant plot of land in our neighborhood with plans to build a community center, giant greenhouse, or…something that would benefit our neighborhood. Ultimately, due to zoning constraints, we decided to build a single family home that could be part of the CLT for affordable housing permanently. CLTs have been something we’ve been learning about for over a decade, and we’ve been excited to support their development in our region.
When we started building—and I built the house almost entirely by myself—we thought we’d have to create our own CLT, a second nonprofit aligned with the Be the Change project. But, thankfully, the Community Foundation of Northern Nevada set up one in 2018 to develop their village on Sage Street, a transitional housing development of 216 low-rent units. We reached out to them and they were immediately interested in partnering with us as this would be their first trip into a single family home – a model from which CLT learns and grows.
While I finished building the house, the community foundation gathered all the other pieces together including the paperwork and hiring a mortgage lender with CLT experience. In the CLT model, the nonprofit builds or acquires homes, and then sells them to income-eligible individuals. The CLT retains ownership of the land the home sits on and leases the land to the homeowner (a 99-year lease at a fixed cost of $50 a month is standard). Separating the house from the land has two benefits: it ensures that the land remains accessible to everyone by keeping it in the possession of the non-profit organization; It helps take the cost of land out of the home price, making home ownership more affordable for lower or middle class people.
Oftentimes, affordable year dollar housing comes with an expiration date because it is “lost” in the market within 15 to 30 years depending on the structure of agreements between state entities and developers. In our area we are currently losing more affordable housing units than we are developing. One of the greatest benefits of CLTs is to keep home ownership affordable for generations. With a one-time public or private investment to lower the purchase price combined with a homebuyer’s agreement to sell at an affordable price (we’re ranked on average county wage increases), CLTs create a collection of homes and apartments that can be purchased time and time again by lower-income families. Even when area home prices go up much higher.
In January 2021 we sold the house to a young couple while at the same time donating the land below the house to CLT. They are now expecting their first child that they can raise in a home they own, in a neighborhood where they can take root, without fear of rent gouging and housing insecurity. The Community Foundation, through the experience gained by working with us, is developing 20 affordable homes in the North Valleys. CLTs are beneficial to everyone and we can accelerate them at the district level through public-private partnerships that embrace their growth and increase their impact in solving the affordable housing puzzle.
Kyle Isaacsen is the Democratic nominee for the Washoe County, Third District Committee. His campaign website is kyleforwashoe.com.