More affordable housing could be coming to Pittsburgh after the Allegheny Land Trust received a $200,000 donation from The Heinz Endowments to test the feasibility of a community land trust.
The community land trust would make housing about 25% cheaper by only selling the house on the property, and not the land. Right now the Trust is focusing on the Larimer neighborhood.
$40,000 dollars will go to researching, and the rest of the money will be used to set up the community land trust.
“This feasibility study that we’re planning to do will really flush these models out on who would be the partners, who would be the players in the greater Pittsburgh region that are doing affordable housing now, who are holding land for various reasons, and does this tool make sense for the Pittsburgh region?” said Allegheny Land Trust President and CEO Chris Beichner.
The study will take 6-8 months and will start in January.
When ready to leave, the owner of the house can sell the house alone and will keep the profits from it, creating permanent affordable housing for the region.
“What we could be doing is offering another tool in the tool chest of community land trusts and how it could help to create permanent affordable housing , and other opportunities, agriculture opportunities, green space opportunities that are meeting the needs of the community that are in the city,” said Beichner.
