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Community Land Trust buyers urge council to expedite approvals for affordable homes
Summary
Buyers and organizers for the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust asked the council to speed approvals, citing urgent individual needs and the need to secure housing TIF and subdivision approvals so planned homes can move forward.
Potential buyers and organizers with the Ann Arbor Community Land Trust told the Ann Arbor City Council on May 5 that they are close to breaking ground on homes and asked council to expedite necessary approvals, including permissions to place two homes per site and housing TIF financing.
The community land trust has attracted buyers and said it has selected Norfolk Homes as general contractor; organizers described other municipalities that have used housing TIF and public-private partnerships to produce lower-cost for-sale homes and urged Ann Arbor to move quickly.
The council heard from Theodore Poling (via Zoom) and Sarah Lorenz, who said the land trust has lined up buyers and is nearly ready to break ground. "We are almost ready to break ground," Lorenz said. She cited examples from other Michigan communities where similar approaches produced homes priced around $175,000 to $200,000.
A caller who identified as a recent land-trust lottery winner said the home would be life-changing and asked council members to "help us, with these approvals so that I can live in a safe home," requesting help expediting approvals for adding two homes per site and obtaining housing TIF so the program remains affordable.
Comments were advisory; no council vote on approvals occurred at the May 5 meeting. Organizers asked staff and council to prioritize administrative steps for the land trust as part of ongoing housing and budget deliberations.
