Post-purchase Support for Homeowners and Long-term Maintenance of CLT Homes

1. Post-purchase Support for Homeowners and Long-term Maintenance of CLT Homes Presenters: Etta Habegger, Thistle Community Housing Emily Higgins, Burlington CLT John Barros and Jason Webb, Dudley Neighbors, Inc. Community Land Trust Conference – Session 4 August 17, 2005

2. Objectives of this session • Provide an overview of: • Post-purchase support of homeowners • Long-term maintenance of homes • Convey practices and solutions that may work for your CLT and homeowners • Discuss balancing CLTs’ stewardship with owners’ rights and responsibilities • Spark ideas that merit in-depth review within your organization, with buyers and owners, and with partners (e.g. other community groups/programs, funders, other CLTs)

3. Guiding your work • Be clear about how your organization sets, reviews and revises policies • Burlington CLT has a Resident Services Committee, made up of homeowners, including several who are Board members • Thistle Community Housing has a CLT Committee, made up of CLT owners and Board members • Both of these committees are overseen by the Board of Directors

4. Possible areas of support and/or homeowner-CLT interface • Maintaining the relationship - proactive, ongoing communication • Financial – refinancing, delinquency, foreclosure, lease/membership fees • Property Taxes, Homeowners Association assessments – based on limited value

5. Possible areas of support and/or homeowner-CLT interface (cont.) • Condition of the home & land – warranty administration, maintenance & repairs • Improvements to the home – whether or not your CLT grants qualified capital improvement credits • Occupancy – home is occupied in alignment with agreements

6. Post-purchase Support for CLT Owners - communication • Proactive, ongoing communication is key with: • Individual CLT owners • CLT communities and homeowners associations – e.g. condominium and townhome complexes, cluster of CLT houses, mobile home park • Funders, other partners

7. Communicating with individual homeowners • Annual meetings • Social Events – e.g. potlucks • Newsletters • Workshops – e.g. taxes, maintenance, repairs, etc.

8. Communicating with CLT communities • Homeowner associations (HOAs) • Board of Directors role • Interface with HOA – staff time • Support neighborhood events – e.g. cleanups, block parties

9. Post-purchase support - financial • Refinancing – decide if allowed, how much maximum debt can be, process • Delinquency – develop relationships with owners and lenders to learn about it as soon as possible; determine capacity to deal with situations, support for owner (internal or through partner agency) • Foreclosure – same as delinquency steps, also - funds available to cure (protect asset)

10. Post-purchase support - assessments • Taxes – some CLTs have separate tax bills and property valuation at limited amount – e.g. Portland and Boulder • HOA assessments – some association governing docs limit increases in dues and special assessments for CLT owners

11. Post-purchase support – condition of home & land • Warranty administration – deal with this typically on new construction, as the developer or as advocate if “turnkey deal” • Maintenance – ongoing work by owner necessary; CLT’s work may include interface with HOAs as well as owners. Maintenance calendar, workshops, newsletter articles are helpful for owners. • Repairs/Rehab – CLT (or other agencies) can provide referrals to contractors, tool libraries, resources for rehab $ (from CLT or other entity)

12. Post-purchase support – capital improvements • Decide how your CLT deals with all improvements – when is CLT’s permission needed, e.g. type of project, cost? What are the owners’ responsibilities? • Decide if your CLT will allow credit for capital improvements • If so, determine: • which type of projects get credit • the valuation method(s) • Possible valuation methods include: project value called out in appraisal, actual cost of project or contractor’s bid (all or %)

13. Post-purchase support – occupancy • Owner-occupied • Subleasing • Non-qualified occupants • Adding or removing owner(s) from the agreements with the CLT (when at least 1 homeowner remains) • Transfer of the home

14. Long-term maintenance of CLT homes Why is this important? • For owners: affordability, livability, return on their investment • For CLTs: sustainability of specific assets and overall portfolio; this includes integrity of physical structures, reputation of CLT, funding options, short-term and long-term affordability

15. Long-term maintenance of CLT homes Challenges • Owner has limited tenure • Owner may have limited funds available • Owner may want to limit $ put into home because of limited return • CLT has limited funds for rehab • Home is at end of life cycle • Others?

16. Long-term maintenance of CLT homes Possible Solutions • Locate rehab $ that owner utilizes – sources may include reserve fund, revolving loan fund, forgivable loans or grants • CLT may buy back home and renovate or redevelop (depending on condition of building and funding options) • CLT sells asset on market and reinvests funds from sale into other CLT homes • Others?

17. Where do we go from here? • Create more solutions – start/continue discussions and implement action plans for working with your owners, increasing funding and more sustainable building practices • Fill out your evaluations – give us feedback on this session and let conference planners know what topics you’d like to focus on in the future • Thank you for participating!

18. Contact information for presenters • John Barros, Dudley Neighbors, Inc., Boston, MA johnbarros@dsni.org • Etta Habegger, Thistle Community Housing, Boulder, CO ehabegger@thistlehousing.org • Emily Higgins, Burlington CLT, Burlington, VT EHiggins@getahome.org • Jason Webb, Dudley Neighbors, Inc., Boston, MA jwebb@dsni.org