About Durham Community Land Trustees

Since 1987, Durham Community Land Trustees has been preserving homes that low-income owners and tenants could afford as neighborhood property values increased. DCLT is a community land trust that builds strong communities by developing, managing, and advocating for permanently affordable housing in Durham, NC.

Alma Street Commons

Going Green: East Durham Project Selected for National Pilot Program 

Living Building Challenge Accepts Alma Street Commons
into 2020-2023 Cohort 

A future development project of the Durham Community Land Trustees (DCLT) was accepted into the Living Building Challenge Affordable Housing Pilot Program. Living Building Challenge (LBC) is the world’s most rigorous standard for green building certification. DCLT’s Alma Street Commons proposal was one of fifteen projects nationwide to be accepted into the competitive program. 

 Green building and affordable housing construction are a natural fit. Lowering energy consumption and costs for residents is only one benefit. Green building can also help mitigate health disparities by using toxin-free materials, improving indoor air quality, and growing food onsite. Living Buildings strive for net-zero or net-positive energy, are free of toxic chemicals, and harvest water onsite. 

DCLT’s staff will receive ongoing technical support, including monthly project meetings with LBC staff. “We are very excited to be selected into the program and connect with the sustainable building community in North Carolina,” says Sherry Taylor, DCLT’s Asset Manager. The pilot program begins in November 2020 and concludes in 2023. 

The goal of the Alma Street Commons is to provide a mix of housing types with features that facilitate community building and address health inequalities in the East Durham neighborhood. The Alma Street Commons project aims to create an urban micro-village by maximizing community gathering and green space for residents. All units will be included in DCLT’s shared equity model and be permanently affordable. 

CLT plus one

A backyard solution for Affordable Housing:

ADU Pilot Project of Durham Community Land Trustees

Durham Community Land Trustees (DCLT) aims to expand access to homeownership with a new pilot program named CLTplusOne. The program pairs a permanently affordable land trust home with an affordable rental on the same lot. DCLT plans to utilize accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to increase affordable housing units in Durham. NeighborWorks America awarded DCLT an innovation grant in September 2020 to develop program guidelines.

CLTPlusOne innovates the community land trust model to address the need for affordable housing. ADUs maximize scarce land resources by gently adding density to existing neighborhoods. Over the pilot program year, Durham Community Land Trustees will be building support for the CLTPlusOne Project.

DCLT launched the pilot program to address the high demand for affordable homes and rental units. The goals of CLTplusOne are to increase access to homeownership, expand the purchasing power of low and moderate income families, and provide a mechanism for wealth building. Both the home and rental unit will be permanently affordable.

The organization hosted the Buildable Backyards Real Estate Summit on June 22-23, 2021 to understand the best practices in lending, underwriting, appraising, and marketing ADUs. The summit focused on providing information for non-profit affordable housing providers and others involved in real estate transactions. To learn more about the summit, you can visit the website here.

For more information on the CLTplusOne project, please contact Sherry Taylor, Asset Manager and CLTplusOne Project Lead, at sherry@dclt.org.

DCLT 2020-2021 Annual Report