(Candy’s Dirt) – Community Land Trusts have been kicked around in North Texas for years as an affordable housing option for residents who want to age in place or stay in the community they grew up in. Fort Worth is forging ahead with its new land trust, poised to build and renovate homes on a 15-acre site purchased from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The City of Fort Worth created its Community Land Trust in June 2023 in partnership with Rainwater Charitable Foundation. A search for an executive director is underway, but the board is already planning to start construction.
Similar to a public-private partnership, a community land trust is a public-community partnership where an individual owns a home, and the CLT owns the land.
More specifically, “The organization purchases, retains, and leases land to those with lower incomes, who can purchase or rent homes on the land at a low cost,” explains Emily Wolf of the Fort Worth Report. “Land trust ground leases typically last 99 years, with renewal options. Because the underlying land is owned by the land trust, even if a family decides to sell the house, the property can remain affordable for future generations. A resale price for a home is generally negotiated upon purchase so that it can continue to be bought by those in need in the future.”
There are more than 225 Community Land Trusts in the U.S.
Fort Worth’s Community Land Trust Development
In a March meeting of the Dallas-Fort Worth Housing Consortium, Fort Worth Assistant City Manager Fernando Costa reviewed the Community Land Trust’s project pipeline.
The first CLT development in Fort Worth, Carroll Park, is expected to bring 150 to 160 housing units over three years, Costa said. The city authorized $4 million from its Housing Finance Corporation and $7 million from its general fund for the $11 million project on the land purchased from Southwestern Baptist.
“As it turned out, we didn’t need the $7 million because the Rainwater Charitable Foundation stepped in […] and there was no delay in the acquisition,” Costa said. “The seminary needed to close on the transaction by the end of last calendar year.”
The Fort Worth Report article says the plan for the former Seminary property calls for about 200 units of affordable housing once it’s fully developed. Attorney Brandon Hill, who chairs the land trust’s board of directors, told the Fort Worth Report some units would be renovated and others would be torn down and rebuilt. Hill said he expects the first units to be available in the first quarter of 2025.
“It will be developed in phases, over a period of time, but it’s well underway,” he said. “And we’re looking forward to getting it online and bringing in its first residents.”
Land owned and leased by the Community Land Trust is exempt from city property taxes. Property taxes will, however, be levied on the homes.
Affordable Housing in Fort Worth
Fort Worth’s Housing Channel, a nonprofit agency that helps people build wealth through homeownership, is also partnering with the Community Land Trust.
Other strategies are underway to provide more affordable housing in the city, including a recently adopted affordable housing plan.
Fort Worth City Council members spoke in April about adding a housing proposition to its 2026 bond referendum.
District 8 Councilman Chris Nettles emphasized that a category should be designated specifically for housing projects.
“I think we’ve done a good job in our bond packages as it relates to police, fire, and parks and rec,” Nettles said at a council workshop earlier this year. “I think this is just another tool we can use as it relates to housing. We’re the 13th largest city and we like to say the fastest-growing city. We’ve got to make sure we take care of our housing and our residents and make sure it is affordable to those who need it.”
State law dictates how bond funds can be used. Dallas pledged $26.4 million toward housing in its May 4 bond, but some affordable housing projects will be covered under the Economic Development proposition.