Affordable housing is hard to find. The Crooked Forest Institute, a local 501(c)3, is focused on becoming a Community Development Housing Organization in order to build multiple affordable housing neighborhoods on shared-equity land like a Community Land Trust.
The Western Institute for Lifelong Learning (WILL) invites you to a Lunch and Learn community education program to be presented by Crooked Forest Institute, on July 10, 2024. The presenters will be Holly Noonan and Joseph Kennedy, both board members of Crooked Forest Institute. The title of their presentation is “The Crooked Forest Project; Disability-Forward Design and Elder Housing in Grant County.”
Noonan says that the Institute has found land locally that they are hoping will become the location of their education campus. The institute, she added, will first establish an adobe brick production facility there and will use the construction of the first neighborhood on their land to train the tradespeople who will later build dwellings on the Community Land Trust. Their intention is to request a special workforce housing ordinance that would allow them to build ten 400 square foot homes at RV park infrastructure on a Community Land Trust.
The institute hopes to inspire local stakeholders to join in establishing a separate 501(c)3 Community Land Trust entity and build it into a membership organization that can receive land donations and bequests for the benefit of the community. Community Land Trusts have become important components of affordable housing developments all over the country because they have found a way to make housing perpetually affordable, by relying on deed-restricted housing sales. Homeowners can buy homes that are much more affordable than market rate homes, and they accrue equity, but when they sell, they agree to sell to another low-income family.
Noonan, who has a master’s degree in social work, experienced homelessness as a result of multiple chemical sensitivities. “That’s why our housing designs are non-toxic. They are built of adobe bricks or compressed earth blocks because everyone’s health benefits from having fewer chemicals in their indoor environment. They will also feature ramps and handles for residents to age comfortably in place.”
The presentation will be held in the ABC room of the Besse-Forward Global Resource Center on the WNMU campus from 12:00 through 1:30. It’s free to the public and membership in WILL is not required to attend. The Global Resource Center is located at the corner of 12th and Kentucky streets.