Wake Up Fannie, I Think I Got Something to Say to You: Financing Community Land Trust Homebuyers Without Stripping Affordability Provisions

Individual homeownership, the backdrop of the American Dream, is often cited as a panacea of economic and social stability. However, the recent foreclosure crisis and related economic collapse exposed vulnerabilities in the developed system of homeownership and mortgage financing¿vulnerabilities so deep that they have left whole neighborhoods abandoned, and shaken economic stability across every income bracket. As a result, some analysts have begun to seriously question the virtues of¿and sometimes to blame¿policies that incentivize homeownership for people who traditionally cannot afford it. This Comment presents an existing model of affordable homeownership that has weathered the housing collapse with astounding resilience: the Community Land Trust (CLT). The proposed changes suggest that these provisions survive foreclosure, lending stability to the CLT model and acknowledging the demonstrated resilience of CLT borrowers in the recent housing collapse

Wake Up Fannie, I Think I Got Something to Say to You: Financing Community Land Trust Homebuyers Without Stripping Affordability Provisions

Individual homeownership, the backdrop of the American Dream, is often cited as a panacea of economic and social stability. However, the recent foreclosure crisis and related economic collapse exposed vulnerabilities in the developed system of homeownership and mortgage financing¿vulnerabilities so deep that they have left whole neighborhoods abandoned, and shaken economic stability across every income bracket. As a result, some analysts have begun to seriously question the virtues of¿and sometimes to blame¿policies that incentivize homeownership for people who traditionally cannot afford it. This Comment presents an existing model of affordable homeownership that has weathered the housing collapse with astounding resilience: the Community Land Trust (CLT). The proposed changes suggest that these provisions survive foreclosure, lending stability to the CLT model and acknowledging the demonstrated resilience of CLT borrowers in the recent housing collapse