Diamond State Community Land Trust

Diamond State Community Land Trust History

In 2005 a group of concerned individuals and organizations began exploring better ways to create and maintain affordable housing in our state. John Davis, a national CLT consultant from Burlington Associates, provided technical support. In January 2006 the Diamond State CLT was formed, staff employed and project development initiatives begun. Our founding organizations include:

  • Citigroup
  • Delaware Housing Coalition
  • Delaware State Housing Authority
  • Fannie Mae, DE Community Business Center
  • Kent County Department of Planning
  • NCALL Research, Inc.
  • Office of State Planning Coordination
  • Sussex County Community Development & Housing
  • University of Delaware Cooperative Extension
  • West Rehoboth CLT
  • Evergreen Consulting, Inc.

In October 2006, DSCLT received its Internal Revenue Service 501(c)(3) approval. We are a new organization and we expect to play a major role in our state’s affordable housing industry. Diamond State CLT is one of approximately 200 CLTs and the first state-wide community land trust in the United States.

As a partner with other housing producers, funders, and supporting agencies, DSCLT has a strong and broad base of support. And as a member of the National CLT Network we have access to excellent technical support and best practices. This is enabling us to move into production mode quickly.

Non-profit housing developers in the state including Interfaith Community Housing of Delaware, Milford Housing Development Corporation, and others are actively working with us on projects. DSCLT has already attracted project funds from the Corporation for Enterprise Development, Sussex County, Citigroup, Delaware Community Foundation, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Housing Capacity Building Program, J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, and others.

Our plan is to create a large inventory of permanently affordable homes all over the state close to where low- and moderate-income families work. This is being accomplished through projects with non-profits, as noted above, and in cooperation with for-profit builders through mixed-income developments. For-profit developers build over 98% of the housing in our state. Without their active participation, balanced housing in Delaware will not be possible.

Over the next ten years we will be growing a small, capable staff team as the inventory of permanently affordable CLT homes gradually expands. We are coordinating all of our work with existing homebuyer education and counseling programs and other organizations already serving the affordable homebuyer market, so there is no duplication of services or staff in our effort.

From our work over the past two years it is clear that there are many potential project opportunities and a number of cooperative development partners. The biggest hurdle to creating a substantial inventory of permanently affordable homes in Delaware is securing substantial, dependable sources of project subsidy. Traditional federal and state affordable housing resources are being tapped including the Federal Home Loan Bank AHP program, HOME and CDBG funds, Housing Development Fund (HDF) of DSHA as well as contributions by banks and private donors. On the homebuyer side - affordable buyer mortgage and down payment assistance programs are being utilized. Over and above these traditional sources Diamond State CLT is working to help create dependable dedicated resources generated at the state and county levels, including Housing Trust Funds, Inclusionary Zoning Programs, State Tax Credits, and other investment mechanisms to achieve the shared goal of balanced housing throughout our state. We are working in concert with others in the housing community to help achieve these objectives.