By Weldon B. Johnson | The Arizona Republic
An army of contractors has been busy for weeks fixing up an aging home on West Galveston Street in central Chandler. They’re replacing energy-inefficient windows, bringing the electrical system up to standards and expanding a tiny bathroom in the 60-year-old house.
It is not the work of some out-of-state investor hoping to flip the property for profit.
It will be added to a growing pool of affordable housing in Chandler made possible through a community land trust. The trust is a way cities can increase their housing stock while ensuring that some homes remain affordable.
Newtown Community Development Corp., a Tempe non-profit, operates land trusts in Chandler, Glendale, Scottsdale and Tempe.
Tucson, Flagstaff and the tiny southeastern Arizona town of Patagonia also are using land trusts to ensure a supply of affordable homes.
Newtown buys vacant homes with the help of private and government funds, and repairs the houses so they can be occupied by low- to moderate-income families. The homes are kept affordable because the land under them is held in a trust and the buyer pays only for the home.
Currently, 89 homes are part of the land trusts, and Newtown expects that number to grow to 100 by year’s end.
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If you’d like to discuss real estate matters, contact RLG founder Jordan Rose, jrose@roselawgroup.com
