Building Dreams: LEAF’s Support for the Atlanta Land Trust
In Greater Atlanta, where aspiring homeowners meet the realities of high housing costs, stands a ray of hope: the Atlanta Land Trust (ALT). Founded on the belief that everyone deserves a safe and stable home, the Atlanta Land Trust has begun to develop 300 units of permanently affordable housing by 2025. ALT’s long-standing relationships with Atlanta-based organizations from the city, local banks, and community groups, reflect community resilience. Its mission is to provide permanently affordable housing to those left behind by soaring real estate prices.
At the heart of Atlanta Land Trust lies its dedication to serving the people of Atlanta. The neighborhoods where ALT builds are low-income. Makeisha Robey grew up in a three-bedroom house and wanted to provide a home for her family. As a preschool teacher, she couldn’t afford the cost to buy a house so she moved from rental to rental as the rents rose. Then she attended a neighborhood association meeting and learned about the Atlanta Land Trust, helping people buy homes at below-market rates. She became one of the first home buyers with the program, purchasing her home for about $102,000 in 2020 when the median price of a house in Atlanta in January 2020 was $287,500.*
LEAF and ALT both thrive through their partnerships. LEAF was referred to ALT through the Urban Guild, a professional organization for architects and designers for the built environment. LEAF’s financial support for ALT comes in the form of flexible funding, a loan to rehab 1255 Epsworth St. Atlanta Land Trust purchased this property at 25% of the market value in September 2023. This is the first of 5 ALT properties LEAF plans to help fund, so ALT can expand and serve more Atlantans.
ALT, with LEAF’s support, is investing in the people who call Atlanta home and in turn, those same people can purchase a home of their own.
What’s a Community Land Trust? Community land trusts (CLTs) enable housing affordability by separating the dwelling or, technically, “building improvements” from the land. The CLT owns the land in perpetuity (usually for 99 years).
*The Atlanta Land Trust story in the Chronicle of Philanthropy
Article about Atlanta Land Trust in What Now Atlanta
Learn about Community Land Trusts from Grounded Solutions
