The First Homes Community Land Trust

The First Homes CLT is one tool of an impressive innovative work force housing program in Rochester Minnesota. Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in 2001, First Homes was financed by a $4 million grant from the Mayo Clinic Foundation and three annual $1 million matching grants. Beginning with a below market interest gap loan program, First Homes added a community land trust model in 2002. Under the corporate board structure, the interests of the Rochester Area Foundation, the sole member of the First Homes corporation, are predominant commensurate to its financial risk. This board structure skews the balance of the CLT governing body. This paper explores whether First Homes’ deviation from the community land trust model renders First Homes a “hybrid” of the CLT model or something other than a CLT altogether – raising the question of what constitutes a community land trust?