S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Today we're talking about community land trust and how they keep housing affordable while maintaining cultural identity. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed and inspired and make you think. Local nonprofit Casa Familia tells us about their land trust and how communities benefit.
S2:
S1: That's ahead on Midday Edition. And Most of us feel the pressure of the housing crisis in one way or another. While some non-profits are easing that pressure through community land trust. That's when a group buys up land and rents or sells to those who qualify at affordable rates. The idea is to prevent displacement and preserve communities , along with culture here in San Diego. The Tierra Indigenous Community Land Trust is working toward that vision in Barrio Logan. Julie Corrales is a founding board member of the Land Trust.
S3: I would say a community land trust. The concept of a community land trust is to own property for the community , for the community to be part of an organization that holds property , and therefore the community itself gets to decide what goes on in their group.
S1: Started last year with some help from the Environmental Health Coalition , they're in the process of acquiring a building in Barrio Logan , which they'll convert into affordable housing. They also plan to create a community health center and art Artspace.
S3: We want to keep people housed. We want to keep people in the neighborhood , because those people built up the neighborhood and gave it its character. And when you look at something , a place as unique as Barrio Logan , um , you know , we have deep activist roots. We have deep artist roots. How do we preserve the beautiful culture that is Barrio Logan ? Well , we have to keep the people there and we have to keep the artists there.
S1: She says land trusts don't just provide affordable housing. They preserve cultural identity , too.
S3: We want to create art spaces that are affordable so that these creative people that know how to create the ambiance and that know how to draw folks in , they get to stay. They get to stay in perpetuity.
S1: She says more priority is needed towards funding for community land trust across the state.
S3: We're curbing displacement and we get to , um , build additional affordable housing. If a developer purchase a house , it's getting raised. You're getting market rate units , right , with all this distance information. So I think we really start to start thinking about funding sources for land trust and see how valuable they are. Um , not only to provide housing , but to preserve communities , prefer to preserve the ecosystems that these communities have created , right to like , support one another.
S1: Meanwhile , in the South Bay , a community land trust is bringing more than 100 affordable units to San Isidro. Nonprofit Casa Familia was just awarded a state grant for the Avendano San Isidro Community Land Trust. Joining me now is Lisa Quest. She's CEO of Casa Familia , a nonprofit providing services and affordable housing for South Bay families. Lisa , welcome back to Midday Edition.
S2: I thank you for having me.
S1: So glad to have you here. So you were just awarded a $33 million grant to continue this project.
S2: That 33.7 million , 20 million of it will go towards construction. And the rest goes really , really excited that transit infrastructure is going to get some much needed enhancements here in San Ysidro.
S1: That's great. And I want to talk a little more about the concept of a community land trust.
S2: It's making sure that whatever land can be captured and have more community control isn't competing with investors right is in at risk of going to market one day ? Um isn't at risk of turning into something that the community isn't open to , and the work that we've done in community with residents , founding members of the Community Land Trust , you know , that's that's a process that we've gone through , even with design , talking about about design of the project and what their priorities are. So everything from mixed use spaces , community spaces to homes that they will start with , with rent , it will be a model that's typical rent for the first 15 years for us. And at that point , because we have so many supportive services , we're going to prepare families to transition into a homeownership opportunity of of the condo itself , of the apartment itself , not the land. The land will remain affordable in perpetuity or 100 years , as long as we can paper something in a legal document. So that's kind of the nuts and bolts of it. But there's land trust , community land trust that looks super different. It could be a farm. It could be a park. But it's it's maintaining the , the essence and and the use that the community really deems appropriate. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , tell me more about these supportive services you mentioned.
S2: And it's being able to to create those spaces. And our project is really close to public transit , which is why this recent award is , is so amazing and , and , and such perfect timing and part of the project because , you know , um , bus shelters need a lot of improvements and that's going to be able to be accomplished. Bike lanes are going in , uh , making sure that there's dedicated commercial space. But commercial space , you know , is , is also looks like , um , direct services and access to a financial opportunity center , um , coaching to prepare , uh , families to , to get ready for a mortgage in 15 years. That might sound like a long time , but I've been at Casa Familia for 23 , going on 24 years now and and time flies and making sure that we're talking upward economic mobility with families , not just trying to get by is something that we're really focused on. And it's has we have a lot of intention on the way we develop thinking about climate resiliency and thinking about wealth building , not wealthy at the cost of others , wealth building for a stabilizing community. Right.
S1: Right. And as you said , community land trusts all look a little different.
S2: Typically you don't see Community Land Trust doing new construction in a lot of cities , and particularly in the Bay area and in the East Coast , it's it's focused on and I've seen many examples , beautiful examples of of community land trust and residents and members securing an apartment complex or securing single family homes , even , and keeping those in a trust so that they don't get flipped so that they don't get turned over to to investors. And I've visited a land trust that's a farm in Albany , Georgia. So it's really unique and special in that way , where it's meant to help address whatever is ailing a community.
S1: And we'll be talking about some of those examples across California later this hour. But I want to talk more about economic mobility. You know , one central idea , as you mentioned in this housing model , is generational wealth building , not at the expense of others , though.
S2: We can help our children with college or a down payment on a house that they're trying to get into. So it's it just opens up so many opportunities. A family of four that's at 30% , 40% , 50%. Ami home ownership is either not possible or very daunting. But what we're trying to do with our project is have that 15 year cushion of time to , you know , have small increments of increases in rent over time so that folks can get ready for that mortgage payment and know what it's going to feel like. But at the same time , our social services , our immigration services , our our career coaching , our lending circles are all going to be integrated along with arts and culture and all the things that help communities thrive. You know , not just housing , housing upon low income housing isn't great , so bringing in all the things that we enjoy in our life is really particular to the way we approach development and and in particular this project.
S1: And like you said , after 15 years , residents will be able to buy housing properties for much lower than market value. I know those 15 years go by quickly. Talk a bit more about why it takes 15 years.
S2: Part of the trick of doing a new construction project in California , and many places all over the country , is what it costs to build now and and the cost of land. So because we were able to donate gas , I was able to donate that land into the trust. It really helped the project. Pencil. Um , is it is it inexpensive ? No , nothing is inexpensive when it comes to construction in California. Anywhere you go. But the financing structures out there to help us do that. Um , one of the mechanisms that we're using and applying for is low income housing tax credit that has a restriction period for 15 years , and the governing board of the Community Land Trust will have to abide by those restrictions and must be rental homes for 15 years at that point. I will step back and we will let the majority resident Govern board steward the land with support of Casa Familia. It's kind of like having a baby. You never stop being a supportive partner and you know we're going to play that role and transition it to now it's time to to buy your home. So it's it's a condo style type of design so that everyone will have that opportunity to have their own space , where we've seen other deed restricted projects that Casa has done in the past. Often they stay in the family. And so we're really hoping that this is taking it to a next level. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , is the Avendano San Isidro Community Land Trust the only of its kind in the San Diego region.
S2: The way that we're doing it , yes. So in the past there there was the the San Diego Community Land Trust. Um , it did a little bit of work about ten years ago , I think. Um , but but taking something from , you know , the ground up , um , new construction using this kind of financing and then intentionally setting it up to convert to to a home ownership. Uh , it's not it's not your typical type of , you know , first time homebuyer type of thing. And and we're not trying to sugarcoat that. You know , people will be able to make a whole lot of wealth , um , overnight when , when they buy and then choose to sell in a couple of years. But that's the point. You know , it's it's a different kind of entry point for folks who might not have the access to begin with. And it's a it's a pilot. And if it and if it continues to , to be as successful as , as residents are starting to see and brainstorm as to what we can do together Then it will be an example for for different parts of California and communities like the sun , etc..
S1: Right ? Well , I want to get into some of the challenges. We know the cost of land is certainly one of them.
S2: It's being able to acquire it. And if it's , you know , land that is owned by someone else and wanting to hand it over to to the existing residents , the residents have limited capital. Right. And so that's where Casa was fortunate to , to get support from , uh , the county of San Diego for , for pre-development , uh , an earmark designation from the governor's office and the governor's budget , the state of California's budget. And being able to advocate and push with the city. When we came in saying , we're going to donate our own land into this land trust , it was real skin in the game , and it helped us build that momentum and support. Being able to go into communities like San Ysidro or Bariloche , or where space is already limited. That's probably the biggest hurdle to to be able to identify that space and have a property owner , um , support you in that. And , and in those transitions.
S1: Um , one of the ways you combat some of those challenges is through climate resiliency.
S2: Right ? We were seeing how our health as a community is being , um , severely impacted by poor air quality. We've been very active in the environmental justice space for the past 15 years is a 50 plus year old organization. So I still say it's it's new work that we're doing , but it has been 15 years that we've been active in this space. But part of our collaborating with researchers and Sdsu is School of Public Health and Community. We've been able to designate sunny Seattle as a disadvantaged community. And that's the designation given by a tool called Cal Enviro Screen. And that means we're severely impacted by by pollution and why we have the one of the busiest borders in 70,000 vehicles cross in the morning and they cross in the evening. And we host that in our community. Why is that such a huge number ? Well , because of the lack of housing. That's one of the the components. But there will always be significant flow through through the border. We embrace what that brings in in good and bad ways. But that's why we're so active in saying , you know , just like we can infill , uh , affordable housing in , in creative ways and just , just like we can make sure to create stabilizing solutions for that , let's infill climate resiliency. Let's do projects like a climate resiliency center. That's one of the things Garcia is focused on right now as well , called la mia. So it's 7000ft². It's a neighborhood scale type of project. I only has one affordable housing apartment on it , but the rest of it is plaza space. It's growing food. Uh , partnering with Wild Willow Organic Farm , it's , uh , partnering with Peninsula Bike to make sure that we have EV bikes accessible. Since we're getting a lot of bike lanes in San Ysidro EV charging station for a circulator , we don't have infrastructure to be climate resilient. So let's integrate it into our parks. Let's integrate it into underused spaces edges of the community , edges of of schools perhaps. And that's that's what it's going to take. You know , that new lens and approach to development and to the built environment. Is it going to cost more upfront ? It sure is. And we have to be ready for that. But we're we're building for the next 50 to 100 years and for our health. So it's it's worth the cost in my opinion. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well you also mentioned this is about preventing displacement in a community land trust. Residents get to be in charge of their land as opposed to big developers.
S2: You know , you're just you're heard because you're in charge of your your own future and you have an ability to , you know , not just think in the moment and , you know , worry about , am I going to get a rent increase ? That is insane next year ? Or am I going to lose um , my home. And am I going to have to find a new community to live into ? Because this is becoming becoming too expensive. You know , all of those worries , um , are just more manageable. And folks can concentrate on things like their kids education planning for that. Um , having fun and not feeling bad about it , you know , and , and being able to fill those , those pieces in our lives and going to the park more and , and , uh , enjoying San Diego because it's such a special place to live. Right.
S1: Right.
S2: Um , we're a little ways away from that. And folks being able to sign up So we hope to be in construction next summer and it'll take a couple of years to build it. It's 103 homes and it's on two different sites , and that's a lot of work. But we're very patient and and we , um , we , we see things through here at Casa and in San Isidro. So at that point , um , you know , a couple years from now , we'll be able to get the word out and , and make that very public and help families , um , because they are of specific incomes , making sure that that folks understand that and what incomes this project is serving , um , facilitate the process to sign up.
S1:
S2: Um , you know , we don't we don't need huge parcels of land to make big impact. Uh , because , you know , small projects can be the catalyst to , to a whole new way of , of doing things in a community. And when community is invited to be part of that and to help brainstorm on solutions , um , that's when things are welcome. That's when even density can be welcomed. Right ? There's a there's that conversation comes up so much all over San Diego. It's like , oh , here we go. With too much more housing. Well , but that's the number one need that that we here at Casa familiar with with folks that we serve. So it's you know , what are what are the things that we want to see. Uh , what are the things that we want to pilot and explore ? And I think funding for the learning and for exploring and for capacity building , um , speaking to philanthropy out there , giving , giving that opportunity to to groups like Casa and grassroots organizations that want to build that capacity is is something that is very necessary. And and right now is the opportunity to do it.
S1: I've been speaking with Lisa Cuesta , CEO of Casa Familia. The nonprofit provides services and affordable housing for South Bay families. Lisa , thanks for shedding light on this and being on the show.
S2: Thank you so much.
S1: Coming up next , how Land trust are working across the state.
S4: What community Land trust are saying is let's preserve the housing that's affordable that we already have.
S1: Hear more when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. We just heard about a nonprofit running a community land trust in San Isidro , where tenants can rent to own new units. Well , now let's look at how that housing model is faring across the state. Felicia melo has been covering this for Calmatters. She's their California divide reporter and she joins me now. Felicia , welcome.
S4: Thanks for having me.
S1: So glad you're here. So listen , your recent piece on community land trust , it starts with a story nine years back up in San Francisco when a group of tenants faced a dilemma. Tell me what that was and what they did about it. Sure.
S4: Sure. Well , these were tenants who were living in the Mission District , which is a pretty popular and fairly expensive neighborhood in San Francisco. They were living in a small six unit building , and they many of them had been living there for many years. And their landlord , who was elderly , her property had gone into conservatorship. And so the tenants were concerned , um , when the property went up for auction , that they were potentially going to be evicted or have their rents raised if a new landlord took over the building.
S1: And what are the tenants of that building paying nowadays ? I mean , how does that compare to general San Francisco prices ? Yeah.
S4: So they're paying between 1500 and 3000 per month for some very spacious and attractive two bedroom apartments , um , in a very popular neighborhood , um , which is certainly well under market for San Francisco. And it's really a result of this organizing campaign that the tenants undertook , um , working with the San Francisco Community Land Trust , which is a nonprofit which purchased the building and then continue to rent to the tenants at these affordable rates. And the tenants then cooperate to manage the building together.
S1: Well , is that common for these community land trust to come out of tenant organizing efforts ? Yeah.
S4: It is. It's very common , actually , that this will happen. Um , you know , the design of community land trust is really to help preserve affordable housing in a given neighborhood. So we have a lot of debate in California about how to create more affordable housing. You know , should we build more ? Where should we build what community land trust are saying is , let's preserve the housing that's affordable that we already have. And often the way that happens is in a situation where a landlord does want to sell and tenants come together and connect with the land trust and , you know , essentially reach an agreement with the landlord for the landlord to sell to the trust rather than to a for profit developer.
S1: Well , you reported that Community Land Trust have tripled in California since 2014.
S4: So there's , you know , many kind of barriers that are faced when communities are looking to build new housing. And then there's also been kind of growing concern of this , you know , over corporate ownership of housing , whether that single family housing or multifamily housing , you know , these community land trust have kind of emerged out of a desire among some in these communities to take more control over how housing evolved in the area.
S1:
S4: Even when people buy homes , they are essentially long term leasing them from the community. Land trust and homes need to be sold back to other low or moderate income buyers. So it's seen as a really longer term Solution to preserving affordable housing in the community. It can also be used to preserve other kinds of community uses for buildings. When I was reporting this story , I discovered that one of my favorite coffee shops in my neighborhood , which was a worker owned cooperative , was actually in a building run by a community land trust where they had actually bought the building. This is in Oakland , California , in order to allow that coffee shop to continue to exist in the building , as well as some housing that existed above the coffee shop. So communities are really looking for a number of creative solutions to preserve land , to preserve buildings for uses that they see as serving the community.
S1: And community land trust actually date back to the civil rights movement.
S4: Um , as you know , in the South , during the civil Rights movement , the early community land trust existed more often in rural areas. And what we've seen recently is an increase in interest in community land trust in more urban areas as this model takes off in a different part of the country and California. And we're really seeing a variety of communities turning towards community land trust. So you have , um , communities in , for example , the Central Valley that used to be a lot more affordable , that are seeing rising cost of housing and are increasingly interested in this model. Bakersfield is looking into whether to set up a community land trust. You have indigenous tribes who are saying , we want to use this vehicle in order to maintain indigenous stewardship over our land. So there's a number of different ways that this is playing out in communities across California.
S1: One expert you spoke to for this piece said Community Land Trust could close the homeownership gap between black and white people. How is that. Yeah.
S4: Yeah. So , um , we actually have seen a flourishing of community land trust in , um , in neighborhoods and historically black neighborhoods , historically Latino neighborhoods where those creating the land trusts are really interested in preserving the affordability of the neighborhood. Um , for those groups who have historically lived there , we know that , um , you know , there's been less condo construction in the US over , um , over the last 15 years or so. And just generally speaking , it is more difficult , you know , in California , with the high cost of living for folks to obtain an entry level home , particularly when they don't have generational wealth. And so this , you know , community land trust , by offering an opportunity to either buy a single family home at a more affordable price or buy into a cooperative in a multi-unit building where tenants actually own their homes and manage the building together. Um , that potentially presents more opportunities for buyers who would have been shut out of the housing market.
S1: Well beyond the example we started with in San Francisco.
S4: There's a group called Trust South L.A. , which actually owns a pretty large multi-unit apartment complex with a health clinic and a market. And it's also buying some smaller multi-unit buildings and looking to turn them into cooperatives. There's also the Beverly , Vermont Community Land Trust , also in Los Angeles , that has created these sort of limited equity cooperatives , where tenants buy in to the building at a relatively low price and have the opportunity to access homeownership.
S1: And we've mostly been talking about converting existing buildings into rent to own housing.
S4: And having said that , the number of housing units that they oversee is still relatively small. We're seeing in the neighborhood of 3500 Californians that are currently living in housing units overseen by Community Land Trust. So it is still small , but a growing movement. And as you noted , there are some places that are looking to build housing in Sacramento. There's a community land trust that is looking at using that model to create some solutions for transitioning people out of homelessness. So there's an area where they bought land that had been historically a community garden , and they're interested in maintaining that as a community garden , but also potentially building tiny houses for homeless folks.
S1: What barriers do new community land trust face when trying to get started ? There's still an initial amount of money they have to raise right ? Yeah.
S4: The biggest thing is really coming up with the funds to buy these properties. And there are a number of different avenues that community Land Trust pursue. Some of them got philanthropic donations. So the philanthropist Mackenzie Scott has given about $20 million to the San Francisco Community Land Trust , which they are using to buy new properties , but also train tenants in organizing and co-managing their properties. And then there's also public funding. The state of California had a program that was going to give $500 million , approximately two Community Land Trust and tenants to buy buildings that were at risk of foreclosure. That program was scrapped this year due to concerns about the state's tight budget. So that left Community Land Trust scrambling a bit for other funding options. And there are some community land trust that have been able to leverage local measures that set aside money for affordable housing and use some funds from those to buy property as well.
S1: Yeah Wow.
S4: And what Community Land Trust supporters are really saying is , you know , we talk all the time about building new housing , increasing the supply of affordable housing , but we're also constantly hemorrhaging affordable housing as it gets purchased and converted to market rate housing by for profit investors. So they're saying if we can do something to stem that tide a bit , we can actually keep people from being displaced from their homes and joining the ranks of the unhoused.
S1:
S4: There are a few groups that are looking to innovate along those lines. So we ought tribe and Humboldt County has said that they're creating a community land Trust to do a number of things at once , on the one hand , to provide affordable housing options for their tribal members , but also to maintain indigenous stewardship over the land and can serve it in a way that's going to be beneficial for future generations.
S1:
S4: In other words , you know , we want to make it easier to build housing and loosen up zoning regulations versus we want to preserve our neighborhoods the way they are and not allow new housing to be built. And I think what , you know , community land trust really poses a question of not just how much housing we should have , but who controls that housing and really whether housing should be something that we should be speculating on for profit or not So as of now , we , you know , we see a relatively small number of units , um , existing under this community land trust model. So I think the question now for the state is , is this something that's scalable and will there be a significant investment of resources , whether at the state level or through private philanthropy ? Uh , for Community Land Trust to start to really pursue this model at a larger scale.
S1: I've been speaking with Felicia mellow. She's the California Divide reporter for Calmatters. Felicia , thank you so much.
S4: Thank you. Great talking with you.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose. Everyone.
