In June 2021, North East Housing Initiative (“NEHI”) closed on $400,000 in construction financing from NIIF and National Housing Trust (“NHT”), a partner CDFI headquartered in Washington D.C., to support the construction of NEHI’s first round of Community Land Trust (“CLT”) homes in the Belair-Edison community. The CLT homes are being sold to qualified low-income families (well below 80% AMI) and will be kept affordable by the CLT ownership structure.
Formed in 2014, and led by Executive Director Garrick Good and Board Chair Danise Jones-Dorsey, NEHI is a nonprofit CLT dedicated to providing permanently affordable housing and homeownership support services to underserved communities in Northeast Baltimore. Through the CLT structure, NEHI will maintain ownership of the land under each home, reducing the cost to the buyer and maintaining long term affordability through equity sharing. NEHI is also working in partnership with housing counseling provider Belair Edison Neighborhood, Inc. (BENI) in its efforts to increase homeownership in the area.
NEHI’s first round of CLT home construction is supported by a $750,000 grant from Baltimore City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The grant, together with the CLT structure, enables families who are typically priced out of the housing market to become homeowners.
“These funds will support housing those who are at or below 50% of the area median income,” explained Acting Housing Commissioner Alice Kennedy. “Making quality homeownership a reality for lower-income residents of the city will not only help these residents but will strengthen our neighborhoods.”