“Viewpoints” is a place on Chapelboro where local people are encouraged to share their unique perspectives on issues affecting our community. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work, reporting or approval of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com. If you’d like to contribute a column on an issue you’re concerned about, interesting happenings around town, reflections on local life — or anything else — send a submission to viewpoints@wchl.com.
Community Owned, Community Grown: A Better Way to Housing Affordability
A perspective from Kimberly Sanchez
A recent NPR report confirmed what we at Community Home Trust already see every day: the housing market has never been more out of reach for the people who need it most.
Home prices just hit an all-time high, $435,300 on average, while sales are falling. Why? Because in today’s housing market, equity is everything. If you already own a home, you can cash in that equity and afford to buy again, even at today’s record prices. But if you’re a first-time buyer with no equity? You’re locked out.
This is the very crisis that Community Home Trust, and other organizations using the community land trust (CLT) model, were built to solve.
Purchasing a home is more than a transaction, it’s a foundation for stability, health, and generational opportunity. Yet the conventional market has become a wealth machine for those who already have assets, while offering little to those who don’t. The result: first-time buyers are forced to choose between predatory rents or leaving their communities altogether.
Community land trusts break that cycle.
Here’s how it works: In a CLT, a nonprofit organization like Community Home Trust owns the land and stewards it for the public good. Homebuyers purchase only the home, not the land beneath it, which lowers the purchase price significantly. In return, they agree to cap their resale price, so the home remains affordable for the next buyer. Homeowners still build equity, but so does the community.
This isn’t a theory. Together with municipal and county partners, Community Home Trust has helped hundreds of families in Chapel Hill and Orange County achieve homeownership through our land trust program. While the median price of a CHT home is just $130,000, the private market median home cost in Chapel Hill and Carrboro is $600,000. Our homebuyers are parents, teachers, and service workers, essential members of our community who, without this support, would be priced out of the place they help sustain.
And these homes stay affordable forever.
Contrast that with what NPR reports: homes under $250,000 are vanishing from the market. Even starter homes are now speculative investments. And while interest rates hover near 7%, first-time buyers need more than savings, they need a whole system designed around equity and access.
Community land trusts provide that system. We don’t just help people buy homes; we help communities stay whole. In a time when displacement and inequality are rising, we offer a model of shared equity and permanent affordability.
Even with ongoing partnerships with the Town of Chapel Hill and other local governments, our efforts alone are not enough. If cities and states want to make homeownership more than a privilege for the few, they must invest in land trusts, preserve naturally affordable housing, and support nonprofits committed to attainable housing. We need policies that put community wealth above investor returns.
The housing market may be broken, but the solutions are already here. We just need to work together to scale them.
Community Home Trust is ready. We hope our cities, counties, and neighbors are too.
Kimberly Sanchez is Executive Director of Community Home Trust, a Chapel Hill-based non-profit that’s provided permanently affordable homeownership opportunities to individuals and families who work in service to this community for more than 30 years. https://communityhometrust.org/
“Viewpoints” on Chapelboro is a recurring series of community-submitted opinion columns. All thoughts, ideas, opinions and expressions in this series are those of the author, and do not reflect the work or reporting of 97.9 The Hill and Chapelboro.com.
