Building Out BNCLT’s Asset and Equity Pathways
One of the early goals BNCLT set when we became a community land trust in 2019 was to support our rental residents to build assets and equity. We do this first and foremost by purchasing buildings where residents are at risk of displacement, and ensuring residents pay no more than 30% of their incomes in rent – a stark contrast to our neighborhoods' average of 45%. We are also developing our first affordable condo homeownership units, which will be available for local first time homebuyers. But we have continued to probe: what else can we do to support our rental residents to build assets and equity?
BNCLT Cohort with Tufts Field Project Students
An impressive team has coalesced over the last year and a half to dig into this question and begin to design an Asset and Equity Pathways program. We've received financial support from the City of Boston and M&T Bank, among our many other contributors. A cohort of resident board members – Alma Chislom, Amos Cordon, and Eric Boyd – has met monthly to guide our research and design process. We've engaged our real estate consultant Loryn Sheffner, California CLT practitioner Francis McIllveen, and a Tufts Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning Field Project student team to support. Together, we’ve mapped out where we want to go, and started to plan how to get there.
Bigger picture, we’re finalizing a program outline and accompanying visual tool that outlines possible opportunities for rental residents to move toward building assets and pursuing homeownership on our CLT. The Tufts Field Project team has also assembled case studies of existing models that allow rental residents to build equity outside of homeownership.
For the coming year, we’ve identified potential first steps we can take. These include:
Setting up matched savings and/or participation stipends for roles that support our community-controlled model.
If viable in our property management budget, offering rent rebates to residents who pay rent on time all year.
Connecting residents to financial education classes and coaches.
Advocating for policies that address the cliff effect, like replicating the “Family Self Sufficiency” program for the Boston Housing Authority’s place-based vouchers.
Updating our acquisition strategy to support opportunities for rental residents to pursue CLT homeownership.
We look forward to sharing these resources once they’re complete, and updating you on how we advance these goals in the coming year!