Happy birthday to us! This is our 40th year of creating permanently affordable housing and supporting thriving communities! We’re sharing a few highlights from the archive including a photo of Joan and Dale Beauchemin in 1985 finalizing the purchase of their new home, the second shared equity home in our portfolio, with attorney David Watts.
Burlington Community Land Trust and Lake Champlain Housing Development Corporation both started in 1984 and merged in 2006 to form Champlain Housing Trust to comprehensively serve the affordable housing and community development needs of Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle counties. Today CHT serves more than 6,000 residents including 678 shared equity homeowners. The hallmarks of the Community Land Trust model, permanent affordability and community ownership through a membership structure, remain at CHT’s core and guide our work to this day.
Click here to watch a brief video about how CHT got started at a time when Bernie Sanders was Mayor and see CHT’s lasting impact on Burlington’s Old North End.