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Building long-term homes outside the distortions of the marketplace

Lopez Community Land Trust was created almost 39 years ago to meet the need for affordable housing for island residents.  Since then, the Trust has purchased land and built homes in five separate and distinct communities on the island. Each of the projects is built with sweat equity and the support of local skilled trades-persons and many dozen construction interns. The homes are financed through mortgages, foundations and individual donors and funds from Community Development Block Grants, the Washington State Housing Trust Fund, private banks, churches and other entities. In all of the developments, the goal for the design and construction is sustainability and elegance—under the criterion of affordable.  Once occupied, the homes are governed according to a set of principles developed to protect the families and the properties from the distortions of the market.

The Land Trust’s most recent development is a net-zero energy producer that consists of eleven single family residences neighborhood, the office of the Trust, and two studio rental apartments. The development relied on straw-bale construction, and has a rainwater system, rain gardens, solar photo-voltaic and solar thermal systems. More information and pictures of warm, beautiful homes can be found at  www.lopezclt.org

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