Land trust expanding into EGF; 4 new homes are planned

Mar. 26—EAST GRAND FORKS — Hoping to open opportunities for potential homeowners and meet community needs, North Star Neighbors Community Land Trust is expanding into East Grand Forks.

"I really like to think we're building someone's first home or their last home," said North Star Neighbors Executive Director Cory Boushee. "It's a starter home, and it's a stepping stone in homeownership."

The land trust was incorporated in 2023 and has properties across northwest Minnesota. Started as a priority through the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, the land trust helps keep housing affordable and opens ownership opportunities to those who may not be able to easily afford it in a shared equity model.

A community land trust helps subsidize the cost of a home with a shared equity model, where both a land trust and the homeowner have a stake. The land trust owns the land, but the homeowner owns the house and has a long-term ground lease with the trust.

Land trusts can either build new homes, like what North Star Neighbors is doing, or help homeowners buy existing homes, which get added to the land trust's portfolio. The latter option is what the Grand Forks Community Land Trust has often done, said Grand Forks Executive Director Emily Contreras, who is also the homeownership coordinator for North Star Neighbors.

"(New construction) is something that we haven't had available on the North Dakota side recently," Contreras said. "(Across Greater Grand Forks) there's hardly anything on the market in a reasonably affordable space right now."

In the initial sale of an East Grand Forks property,

funds from the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency and North Star Neighbors

help lower the purchase price for the homeowner. When the home is sold, the homeowner receives the funds of 25% of the appreciation of the home, with the rest staying with the property, helping maintain affordability, buyer after buyer. The land trust isn't limited to first-time buyers, potentially providing options for older people who are downsizing.

The properties held by the community land trust are limited by income. The top income is $89,500, with successful applicants often between $70,000 and $90,000 right now, according to Contreras and Boushee. However, Contreras encourages others who may not meet that income range to apply so they can learn how to get there and also become familiar with the process.

"It makes a pretty big difference to have Grand Forks Community Land Trust that's been doing this for 15 years to get all of those initial logistics figured out," Contreras said. "We have this state divide, and yet when it comes to people who live in Grand Forks or East Grand Forks, there are many people in lending, appraisals, insurance, all of those things where it's a somewhat familiar concept."

North Star Neighbors helps refer prospective buyers to banks that will offer mortgages for these homes. The land trust covers an area across 12 counties and two tribal nations in northwest Minnesota, with properties existing in Red Lake Falls and Thief River Falls. Plans include four homes in Roseau, in addition to an expansion

into East Grand Forks, building four homes in the Pinehurst Court area.

"Scaling community land trusts at a county or individual city level in our rural area would be very difficult," Boushee said. "Depending on how the sales go, we might start all four this summer or we might stagger. It just depends on how the sales go."