Advocates urge Grant County to back a countywide community land trust to preserve permanently affordable housing

Holly Nunan, executive director of the Crooked Forest Institute, told the Grant County Board of Commissioners at the May 14 meeting that a countywide community land trust could create permanently affordable housing and protect low-income residents from displacement as market pressures increase.

"A community land trust is a way for a community to own land together," Nunan said during public comment, describing CLTs as community-wealth tools that separate land ownership from homeownership to preserve long-term affordability. She proposed a unified 501(c)(3) to which municipalities would donate land for permanently affordable neighborhoods and said such a model avoids the expiration of affordability clauses that commonly accompany low-income housing tax credits.

Why it matters: Nunan said affordability clauses tied to tax-credit-driven projects typically expire after seven to 30 years, at which point properties can return to market rates and displace residents. She argued a CLT could protect elderly, disabled and low-income households in Grant County.

Details offered

- Model and examples: Nunan cited Sawmill in Albuquerque as a local example, and said some municipalities in New Mexico have used university partnerships or contractors to conduct community assessments and plan multiyear strategies.

- Implementation suggestion: Nunan recommended a countywide approach with each municipality donating acreage and participating in a single nonprofit structure, enabling shared data collection, industry collaboration and coordinated destination/affordable-housing planning.

Board response and follow-up

Commissioners thanked speakers for the presentation; no formal motion was made at the meeting to create a CLT. Nunan offered to return and meet with staff and industry partners to provide more information and to participate in future planning discussions.

What the record shows

Nunan’s remarks are in the public-comment portion of the agenda; she provided a website (crookedforestinstitute.org) for additional material and said the county could use a planning assessment model similar to other New Mexico communities.