Like many neighborhoods in Milwaukee, the cost of housing is rising in Lindsay Heights. To help keep the neighborhood affordable, the Milwaukee Community Land Trust is trying a new approach.
The Milwaukee Community Land Trust, in partnership with VIA CDC, recently put four homes up for sale in Lindsay Heights at price points significantly below market value. The goal is to create more owner-occupants in the neighborhood, rather than seeing the homes go to investors.
In exchange for a reduced price on the home, new homeowners agree to two conditions. The first is to be an owner-occupant, meaning they cannot use the home as a rental or investment property. The second is to eventually sell the home back to the land trust at an appreciation rate agreed upon when they first buy the property.
Lamont Davis, executive director of the Milwaukee Community Land Trust, said that these conditions help keep the neighborhood affordable long-term. They also help people living in Lindsay Heights who are priced out of traditional real estate to be able to own a home.
“We believe that people who have always lived in these neighborhoods, should be able to own in these neighborhoods,” Davis says. “For all of our homes, we want buyers who are not spending more than 33% of their income on housing costs.”
Milwaukee is not the only place with a land trust. There are thousands of land trust models throughout the world, including several urban and rural trusts in Wisconsin.
Davis hopes that this model allows people making less than $50,000 per year to afford to own a home in a neighborhood they want to stay in long-term.
“The goal is to create permanent affordability in the unit,” Davis says.
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