Housing Trusts Offer Communities Many Advantages

摘要

As the escalating cost of housing excludes more and more Californians from homeownership, many cities, counties and affordable housing advocates have rediscovered a 35-year-old idea to spur homeownership: the local housing trust. Created in the early 1970s and primarily funded with public dollars dedicated to increasing a region's housing supply, trusts have produced thousands of units of affordable housing across the nation. There are now more than 400 housing trusts operating in 37 states, and that number is expected to grow as states such as California search for ways to make homeownership a reality for residents. "Housing is a complicated issue in California, and Proposition 218 makes it difficult to obtain a dedicated funding source," said Mary Brooks, executive director of the Housing Trust Fund Project located in Frazier Park.