Prince George’s County task force launches study of community land trusts to preserve affordable homeownership

Prince George’s County Councilmember Eric Olson convened a county task force Wednesday to study community land trusts as a tool to expand permanently affordable homeownership, and members agreed to meet roughly monthly and deliver a written report within one year.

The task force’s first meeting featured a detailed presentation by Brenda Torpy, who identified herself as a longtime community land trust practitioner and leader of Champlain Housing Trust, describing how community land trusts work, examples from around the country and partnerships local governments use to scale programs.

“Community land trusts are just a proven tool to meet this moment,” Torpy told the task force, summarizing the model’s goal of protecting long-term affordability while allowing homeowners to build some equity.

Why it matters: County officials said the task force is intended to examine options for preserving and expanding inexpensive homeownership in a region where housing costs outpace wages. Task force members flagged county surplus land, land-bank partnerships and local funding sources as possible levers to kick-start a program if the council decides to proceed.

At the meeting, Olson set expectations for the group’s work: he said the task force will aim to meet about once a month and produce its report within a year of starting.

Torpy described the typical community land trust structure: a nonprofit owns land in perpetuity, while homeowners buy and own the structural improvements and sign a long-term ground lease that contains a resale formula and use restrictions to keep the home affordable at resale. She said leases commonly run 99 years (renewable at resale), enable owners to obtain mortgages, and are paired with pre-purchase counseling and post-sale stewardship.

Using Champlain Housing Trust as an example, Torpy said that CLTs can recycle public subsidies attached to properties so those subsidies remain with the home over multiple resales. She provided outcome metrics from Champlain’s program—about 700 shared-equity homes in its portfolio, an average ownership tenure of roughly seven years, and program averages she said include an average buyer income around 70% of area median income and an average seller return in the mid‑tens of thousands of dollars—while stressing those figures are specific to Champlain’s market and program design.

Task force members asked technical questions about underwriting, lender engagement and program scale. Torpy said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have approved standard lease and covenant language that enables banks to underwrite and sell CLT mortgages into the secondary market, and that permissible financing and bank participation vary by market and lender familiarity.

County staff and community partners on the call included the council’s planning, housing and economic development committee director, Reyna Hightower; county planning director Lakeisha Hall; a deputy director from the Department of Housing and Community Development; and nonprofit partners, including the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Housing Initiative Partnership (HIP).

Several members raised local policy levers. The group discussed using county surplus land or a county land bank as an initial supply source for permanently affordable units. One councilmember indicated she is exploring legislation that would require residential surplus property to be considered first for affordable housing. Task force members also noted the county’s existing down-payment and closing-cost assistance program and suggested qualifying lenders under that program could be an early outreach list for mortgage partners.

Next steps: The task force agreed to schedule a follow-up meeting in roughly a month. Torpy said she would provide briefing materials and examples of municipal–CLT partnerships for the group to review before the next session; she also said she will be unavailable until June and the group will coordinate scheduling around that limitation.

The meeting closed without any formal votes or ordinance proposals; the action agreed was the formation of the study process with the timeline of monthly meetings and a report due within one year.

Community members and agencies represented at the meeting included local council staff, nonprofit housing developers, faith-based leaders and housing agency staff. The task force’s work will determine whether Prince George’s County pursues a county-run program, a public–private partnership, or other tools such as land-banking, surplus‑land disposal policies or inclusionary approaches to preserve affordable homeownership.

A full list of meeting participants and briefing materials will be circulated to task force members before the next meeting, council staff said.