Catskills Community Land Trust Gets State Boost to Build Permanently Affordable Housing

Livingston Manor, NY — For the Catskills Community Land Trust, the dream of permanently affordable housing in the region just got a lot more tangible. The organization has been awarded a $98,000 grant through New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s Smart Growth program — money that will allow it to purchase its first piece of land and take the first concrete steps toward building a two-family rental home in Livingston Manor.

“We’re excited to say we can start doing the fun part of this work — buying land, building homes,” said Gwen Schantz, of the Catskills Community Land Trust Advisory Committee. “It’s a huge first hurdle for us to get over, just owning our first piece of land.”

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY LAND TRUST?

The Catskills CLT was formed roughly a year ago with a clear diagnosis: housing costs in the region have outpaced what local workers earn, and the area lacks rental housing altogether. In much of the Catskills, the service industry is the backbone of the local economy — but seasonal wages and soaring rents make it nearly impossible for those workers to stay.

A community land trust addresses that tension by removing land from the speculative real estate market entirely. A nonprofit organization holds ownership of the land in perpetuity, while homes on that land are rented or sold at prices calibrated to local incomes. The housing stays affordable not just for one tenant, but for every resident who follows.

“Real estate is treated like an investment opportunity, and that has had a big impact on housing prices and land prices,” Schantz said. “The goal of the nonprofit community land trust model is to keep housing accessible to people no matter how much money they’re making.”

THE FIRST PROJECT

The grant will fund the acquisition of a small vacant lot on Meadow Street in the Town of Rockland — a parcel the town board voted to sell to the CLT nearly a year ago. Remaining funds will go toward hiring an architect and preparing the site for construction, bringing the project to what Schantz calls “shovel-ready” status.

The planned structure is a two-family rental home built with local hemlock timber frame — a material Schantz describes as not only durable and beautiful, but a carbon sink that helps offset the footprint of construction. The building is designed to be climate-resilient, a priority in a region with a long history of flooding, and energy-efficient enough to keep tenants’ heating costs low.

“We want to build something that’s strong, beautiful, and helps beautify the street,” Schantz said. “We really think we can solve a lot of problems at once — beautification, affordable housing, and making our town greener and more climate resilient.”

Actual construction will require a second round of fundraising. The grant gets the organization to the threshold — land owned, design in hand, site prepared — but building the home is phase two.

WHO WILL LIVE THERE?

The CLT intends to prioritize local workers — people already employed in Livingston Manor, Roscoe, and surrounding hamlets who struggle to find housing they can afford on local wages. Rent will be set at roughly 30 percent of household income, the standard affordability benchmark.

“Local businesses are struggling to hire and keep employees because it can be really expensive to live here,” Schantz said. “If you’re a family working in town and making $20 or $25 an hour, we want to make sure the rent is affordable to you.”

A MODEL FOR THE REGION

The CLT is thinking beyond Livingston Manor. Schantz says the organization’s scattered-site approach — identifying vacant infill lots rather than pursuing large developments — translates well across the small river-valley hamlets that define the Catskills. The Binghamton-based First Ward Action Council, a long-established affordable housing nonprofit, serves as one model.

Looking further ahead, the organization envisions not only building new homes but also acquiring and renovating vacant historic structures — a persistent problem in the region, where old homes sit unoccupied because repair costs are prohibitive.

The Town of Rockland has been a key partner, having earned a state “pro-housing community” designation last year through the New York Homes and Community Renewal program. The Community Foundation of Orange, Sullivan and Rockland has served as fiscal sponsor for the young nonprofit.

For Schantz, the timing feels right. “Things are thawing out, and it feels like it’s springtime for our organization,” she said. “We’re excited to hit the ground running this summer and literally get some foundations laid.”

Image: – In this July 21, 2020, file photo, a homeowner tours his new home, in Washingtonville, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)