Facts about OPAL Community Land Trust

• Incorporated in Washington State May 1989

• Service area: Orcas Island, Washington

• “OPAL” is an acronym that stands for Of People And Land

• Homes provided as of December 2011:
  • 92 — single-family homes (owned by individuals or families) that are located on community land trust land
  • 29 — rental apartments owned and managed by OPAL
  • 3,600 — square footage of office space owned and managed by OPAL

• Services provided:
  • Acquire land and construct homes for very-low, low- and moderate-income households;
  • Develop land in and environmentally and socially responsible manner;
  • Construct or renovate buildings that are healthy, durable and energy efficient;
  • Educate and counsel homebuyers and rental tenants;
  • Steward what we’ve created for current and future generations;
  • Provide rental and energy assistance for very-low income households.

• Governance: democratically elected board of trustees of whom one-third represent low-income people. The bylaws allow the board to be comprised of as few as six or as many as twelve trustees. The board generally has between nine and twelve trustees.

• Staff:  Six people–one full-time and five part-time. Their total work hours are equivalent to those of 3.7 full-time people.

• Awards:
  • 1995: Honorable Mention from the Fannie Mae Maxwell Awards for Excellence in Affordable Housing
  • 2004: Community Partner Award from the Opportunity Council, the regional community action agency
  • 2006: Lisa Byers receives Washington State Housing Finance Commission Friend of Housing Award.

• Selected list of publications about OPAL or that include information about OPAL:
  • My View: Newlsetter of the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (April 2006).
  • Pitcoff, Winton. “Affordable Forever: Land Trusts Across the Country.” National Housing Institute’s Shelterforce Magazine 121 (Jan/Feb 2002).
  • OPAL Community Land Trust. Of People And Land: Telling Our Stories, Building Homes, Creating Community. Eastsound, Wash.: OPAL Community Land Trust, 1999.
  • Dwyer-Voss, Ron. “Community Land Trusts: A Flexible Form of Affordable Homeownership.” Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), Pacific Mountain Review, 15, no. 1 (1977).
  • Jones, Tom, et al. Good Neighbors: Affordable Family Housing. New York: The Images Publishing Group, McGraw-Hill, 1995, pp. 37 and 68-69. Also available online at www.designadvisor.org.