*ProtectOurQueerLand

Short Mountain/ Dry Creek  Community Land Trust

SMDCCLT serves our unique rural queer community in both Cannon and Dekalb counties. We aim to preserve the affordability of homes and land, increase and diversify community stewardship, and incorporate the environmental protections offered by the conservation easement of 464 acres adjacent to Short Mountain Sanctuary. We do this by honoring the work of those who came before us, while moving forward to create something new.

 Our mission includes:

• Creating a mechanism for land succession to promote the continuation and diversification of the rural queer community in Middle Tennessee by removing land from the financial investment model of the real estate market and re-aligning land holding with stewardship;
• Making land and housing available for those who face barriers to land ownership, collective land projects, alternative family structures, eldercare, food production, artistic creativity, and other varied experiments in rural sustainability;
• Protecting waterways and natural habitats, while maintaining human infrastructure 

How would the Community Land Trust acquire land?

1. The CLT could raise partial or complete funds to subsidize the purchase of the land lease by a potential buyer.
2. Current landholders can place their property in the CLT and retain rights to their home/land via a long-term lease.
3. Landholders can bequeath their lands to the CLT, specifying preference or limitations around how the land will be used in the future.

How Would it Work?

A typical CLT for affordable housing works like this:

•   A group or individual purchases a house that sits on land owned by the CLT.
•   The purchase price is more affordable because the homeowner is only buying the house and the rights to use the land, not the land itself.
•   The homeowners lease the land from the CLT in a long-term (often 99-year), renewable lease.
•   The homeowners agree to sell the home at a restricted price to keep it affordable in perpetuity, but they may be able to realize appreciation from improvements they make while they live in the house(s).
• The CLT would be run by a Board of Directors comprised of diverse queer community members, including those who hold land and those who do not. 

We have an exciting opportunity to purchase Breathwood, a property adjacent to SMS that is under the conservation easment. We must work fast as this opportunity dissolves March 10. If you have any questions at all text me at 615-848-8780 or email at jordan.dawdy@gmail.com