ADIRONDACK COMMUNITY HOUSING TRUST Information

Adirondack Community Housing Trust utilizes the Community Land Trust (CLT) model for perpetually affordable housing. The first CLT's were developed in the 1970's. There are now some 200 in the country, and the number is growing rapidly as more communities are concerned with preserving affordable homeownership. For qualified home buyers, ACHT will finance a portion of the mortgage to purchase an affordable house in exchange for title to the land. How does ACHT control that future sales of the homes remain affordable? ACHT retains ownership of the land on which the homes are located. Homebuyers get a deed to the house and any other improvements on the land, and they get a 99-year renewable ground lease giving them secure long-term control of the land. The lease gives the ACHT homeowner most of the rights of conventional homeowners, but with a few limitations: if they want to sell the home, it must be sold back to ACHT or to another income-qualified family; and it must be sold for a price that is limited by a formula written into the lease. ACHT's resale formula allows the seller to receive the amount they originally paid for the house, plus the value of any ACHT-approved capital improvements they have made at their own expense, plus 25% of any additional appreciation in the value they originally paid for (but not the appreciation of that portion of the home's original market value that was paid for by ACHT).