How OPAL Community Land Trust Works

By bringing together community support, state and federal grants, low-interest loans, and thousands of volunteer hours, OPAL CLT is able to create stable, permanently affordable homes for creditworthy Orcas families and individuals who are excluded from the private market because of a lack of income.

How does it work? OPAL eliminates the land and some site development costs from the price the homeowner pays for the home. The land is owned by the community land trust and leased to each homeowner, who must qualify for a mortgage to buy the house. The community land trust commits to owning the land in perpetuity.

OPAL acquires the land with funds from grants, and donations of cash and land from individuals.

After acquiring the land, OPAL designs and builds homes to meet the needs of prequalified applicants. Design and construction follow OPAL’s green building guidelines.

Current applicants can not have income and/or assets that would enable them to purchase a low-priced home in the traditional market on the island. Applicants also must have lived in San Juan County for three years (not the last three consecutive years), unless there is no waiting list.

Affordable for Future Generations

When a house is sold, there are restrictions on its resale price—there is equity gain for the owner, and the home always remains affordable. The resale price is determined in accordance with the formula set down in the ground lease.

For examples resale formulas, click this link: Resale Formula Examples(pdf).

For an animated illustration of the way this model preserves affordability for future generations AND provides equity gain for the individual, visit the website of Burlington Associates in Community Development.

Community land trusts around the country use different resale formulas. The largest community land trust in the nation, Burlington CLT in Burlington, Vermont, completed a performance evaluation of the first 97 homes in their program that sold to new owners. The results can be found at the web page for Burlington Community Land Trust’s publications.

To learn more about community land trusts, go to the web site of the Institute for Community Economics or the E.F. Schumacher Society.