The Pima County Community Land Trust (PCCLT) is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit, community-based organization committed to providing permanently affordable housing for low to moderate-income individuals and families; promoting community revitalization in the neighborhoods in which it operates; and providing ongoing programs and services that help families achieve, preserve, and sustain affordable housing.
Homeownership and affordable rental housing are critical tools for wealth building, neighborhood stabilization, and overall wellness. Not only do our homeowners gain housing and an opportunity to build wealth, but they also enjoy continued support from us as needed. Our support helps families avoid losing their homes to foreclosure or eviction.
Our Story
Formed in 2010, the Pima County Community Land Trust is a community-based organization committed to the development and preservation of affordable housing. Born out of the 2008 housing crisis, PCCLT initially partnered the U.S. Housing and Urban Development, City of Tucson, and Pima County in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Our early work involved acquiring and rehabilitating 89 foreclosed homes and vacant properties. These homes remain the base of PCCLT’s housing portfolio and provide families earning between 50-80% AMI permanent affordable housing and an opportunity to build wealth through homeownership.
Beginning in 2016, PCCLT launched our Property Acquisition and Development Project to help ensure affordable housing opportunities—both for renters and aspiring homeowners—in Tucson’s rapidly gentrifying urban core. We purchased and rehabbed a four-plex in Barrio Hollywood for rental to low-income community members. We also acquired a parcel in that same neighborhood, building six single-family rental homes. Our most recent project in Tucson’s El Rio neighborhood created five single-family homes for purchase.
In addition to providing permanent affordable housing options to Pima County residents, we also offer housing counseling. We launched our HUD-approved housing counseling program in 2019. Our housing counselors provide homebuyer workshops, financial capacity building, and one-on-one financial counseling.
What’s a CLT?
The Community Land Trust (CLT) model offers a unique and permanent solution to the affordable housing crisis by providing low- to moderate- income families who might otherwise be precluded from homeownership, a chance to own their own home.
We do this by first securing funding from the City of Tucson, Pima County, and other funders in our community. We then use that money to acquire land and either rehab an existing home or construct a new home. Once homes are ready for occupancy, PCCLT facilitates the sale to families who meet certain financial guidelines which include credit, income and savings parameters. The purchase price is discounted because the buyer only purchases the house or “improvement.” PCCLT retains ownership of the land upon which the home resides and the homeowner pays a low monthly lease payment. We do not require a down payment and additional subsidies further reduce the mortgage so that monthly loan payments are low.
Our program is designed so that the initial contribution from the homebuyer is low and the monthly mortgage payments are low, too, allowing the buyer to build modest equity and enjoy the stability and benefits that homeownership provides. The Community Land Trust Model has proven highly effective in maintaining long-term affordability.
Since 2010, PCCLT has offered 111 low to moderate income families homes and an opportunity to build wealth and enjoy all homeownership’s associated benefits.
