Four rehabbed Lindsay Heights homes will stay affordable forever through land trust

Four new rehabbed homes in the Lindsay Heights neighborhood are the latest addition to the Milwaukee Community Land Trust.

The Community Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that works with local developers, philanthropies and city agencies to acquire homes and sell them below market rate.

The effort is to increase the pool of affordable homes and homeownership opportunities for people of color. In Milwaukee, only 27% of Blacks own their homes, compared to 37.5% of Hispanics and 55.8% of whites, according to a 2021 Wisconsin Policy Forum report.

MCLT unveiled its first home, in the Muskego Way neighborhood, last year. The Lindsay Heights homes are among 10 the group is developing this year. By 2025, the land trust hopes to have 30 homes.

Wednesday, the nonprofit hosted a ribbon-cutting and open house to show off the four homes. Located in a three-block radius, they'll hit the market soon. Three are single-family homes and the fourth was a duplex converted into a four-bedroom single-family home in 2600 block of N. 16th Street, where the ribbon-cutting took place.

MCLT Executive Director Lamont Davis said the new homes represent a lasting change in affordable housing in Milwaukee.

“This initiative provides a pathway to stable affordable housing — empowering families to build assets and create a brighter future,” he said.

Homeownership strengthens neighborhoods, said JoAnna Bautch, executive director of VIA Community Development Corporation. VIA CDC worked with the land trust to develop the four homes as well, as the Muskego Way property.

Homeownership, Bautch said, improves the quality of life for families, increases graduation rates and reduces crime.

“We are selling these homes to families that need this opportunity, that want to make a commitment to the neighborhood, to the block, to the city,” she said.

Here’s what else to know about the Milwaukee Community Land Trust:

A community land trust makes homes perpetually affordable

In exchange for the reduced cost of a house, the MCLT retains ownership of the land and caps the price a homeowner can seek when selling it. The effort makes homeownership a reality for families making $35,000 to $50,000.

“The land trust is an affordable housing solution, largely for people of color, people who have largely been excluded from the opportunity to own a home,” Davis said. “Our goal is to really work with families who make a modest amount of income but usually not enough to become homeowners.”

While land trusts are a proven model nationally, with over 250 of them in 43 states, this is the first in Milwaukee.

Land trusts also ensure affordable housing is sustainable. Under traditional affordable housing programs, the subsidy to reduce a home’s cost disappears after a certain time period. This allows the home to be sold for whatever the market can bear or even to an out-of-state investor.

“That unit is no longer affordable for people who are low-income,” Davis said. “Our model provides a way for people who have lived in the neighborhood to continue to live in the neighborhood."

Keeping homes perpetually affordable through partnerships

The MCLT plans to partner with other agencies like the Milwaukee Christian Center and the Community Development Alliance to help subsidize more homes.

The four newly rehabbed homes were developed under VIA CDC’s Turnkey program, which rehabs foreclosed bank and city-owned properties. VIA launched the Turnkey program in response to the 2008 foreclosure crisis. Since then, it has rehabbed 33 properties.

Bautch said not all Turnkey homes will be part of the land trust, but the trust provides an option to homeownership for that first-time buyer — and ensures it for every future buyer of that home.

“We are developing multiple opportunities so that our families have options and that is what they deserve,” Bautch said.

The land trust has also partnered with several housing programs like ACTS Housing and Housing Resources Inc., to offer homebuyer counseling. The aim is to identify buyers and get them into a home that’s sustainable.

“Often, people have a dream of homeownership, but they don’t know where to start,” Davis said.

What’s in the rehabbed homes

The homes range from $75,000 to $90,000 and include modern appliances, full roof replacements and energy-efficient windows. They have up to five bedrooms and at least 2½ baths. The goal of the Turnkey program is to provide a house that's move-in ready.

The renovations try to maintain much of the homes’ historical charms. If a home has wood floors, Bautch said, they work to preserve them instead of covering them with tile.

“We got these homes down to the studs and build them back up transforming them into affordable, safe and healthy Milwaukee homes for income-qualified families,” she said.

For more information on these homes or the Milwaukee Community Land Trust, contact Lamont Davis at lamont@milwaukeeclt.org or 414-788-8211.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lindsay Heights homes to stay affordable through Milwaukee land trust