Welcome to Diamond State CLT

Delaware’s statewide community land trust

Homeownership changes lives.

Homeownership contributes to families’ and communities’ economic stability and growth. For children, homeownership is tied to success in school and life.

Unfortunately, housing costs in Delaware have placed homeownership out of reach of many hard working families. Throughout our state there is a growing gap between the buying power of people’s wages and the cost of a quality home.

This is where Diamond State comes in. Formed in 2006, Diamond State Community Land Trust is helping families own homes at prices they can afford. Diamond State invests funds in every transaction, “buying down” the purchase price of the homes.

Diamond State homeowners gain equity and financial stability, and Delaware gains homes that are affordable for generations to come. We serve families in all three Delaware counties - Kent, New Castle, and Sussex.

Diamond State serves families earning household incomes at or below 80% of Area Median Income (AMI) based on family size.
See County by County Income Limit Chart.

DSCLT News and Views

HUD Announced on January 14th the successful Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 Recipients. The state of Delaware received $10,007,109 in additional funds to help forestall the foreclosure crisis. Delaware is one of 56 awardees out of approximately 350 applicants nationwide. "DSHA intends to make extensive use of the community land trust model using the Diamond State Community Land Trust, a statewide nonprofit that develops and manages community land trust homes. The land trust model will be an integral part of our program providing permanently affordable homes throughout the state. In addition, DSHA is encouraging jurisdictions to explore the possibility of displacement prevention with NSP2 funds, whereby nonprofit organizations would purchase real estate owned properties from the banks and manage them as rentals or community land trust homes after a coordinated foreclosure process where the homeowner lost ownership but not occupancy of the home."

The state of Delaware NSP2 plan is the only one in the nation to feature permanently affordable homeownership and possible leveraging with New Markets Tax Credits to expand the reach and flexibility of the program. Link to HUD announcement of NSP2 funds

Fifty-Six Groups to Share $2B in NSP2 Funding

January 14, 2010 -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released today the full list of recipients of funding in the second round of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP2). NSP2 appropriates $2 billion in funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. "Vacant homes have a debilitating effect on neighborhoods and often lead to reduced property values, blight, and neighborhood decay," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan in a statement, adding that the $2 billion "will help stabilize hard-hit communities by turning vacant homes into affordable housing opportunities." The 56 groups--composed of 36 consortia and 15 local governments--were awarded the funding through a competitive application process. HUD considered 482 applications seeking a total of $15 billion. Find additional news and analysis at Rooflines, the blog of the National Housing Institute.

CLTs are featured in Slate Magazine's online publication "The Big Money"
Why you should give up your land by Nik Steinberg

President Obama announces the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan - February 18, 2009. The Plan includes a number of measures to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, refinance unaffordable mortgages, as well as more Neighborhood Stabilization Program funding to restore and re-sell vacant, foreclosed homes, plus other funding for affordable housing, weatherization, and energy efficiency measures. See these sites for more details:

http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg33.htm

http://www.financialstability.gov/

What Foreclosure Crisis? Community Land Trusts Offer Secure Homeownership

The current foreclosure crisis that is sweeping our country illustrates how vulnerable homeowners are—especially low- and moderate-income households. Some reports estimate that over 40 percent of foreclosures are occurring with homeowners who had good, 30-year, low-interest loans in place before they got caught up in the refinancing frenzy promoted by many mortgage providers. Unwisely, many homeowners switched their stable mortgages for other mortgage products that were, simply put, too good to be true.

In addition to the families that refinanced, there are many others now facing the prospect of foreclosure. Some people bought homes they could not afford as their primary residence betting that the rapid escalation in home values would continue. Others bought second and third homes expecting to resell within a short time-frame and realize a quick profit.
Read the entire article by Van Temple on www.rooflines.org