I can understand why the Daily got it wrong in the Oct. 3rd editorial, “Making Ames Habitat more Humane.” It’s an exceedingly complex issue. A call to staff or board members of either Habitat or the Community Land Trust, the other nonprofit housing organization mentioned in the editorial, would have produced a completely different piece.

The editorial praised the City Council for fixing a periodic income test provision supposedly used by Habitat for Humanity and the Community Land Trust (CLT). Actually, the city council voted to correct wording in their own document drafted by the city attorney. The language could have been interpreted to allow periodic income testing on the three families who purchase the homes being built by Habitat and the CLT at 24th and Hoover in Ames.

The city entered into this builder’s agreement with the two organizations after Habitat and the CLT won a bid to develop affordable housing at the site. The city agreed to give the land to the nonprofits, for free, as long as the 3 homes were occupied by families who made 110% or less of Story County’s median income. This initial income test is easily met by both organizations. Habitat has an initial income test of 50% or less of median income. The CLT has an initial test of 80% or less of median income.

Of course, neither organization wishes to limit the income of families once they are in the homes, and neither did the city, which is why they voted to correct the wording in the builder’s agreement the city attorney had drafted for them.

The editorial also said that the current agreement would force a widow from her home if she received a life insurance payout that put her over the income guideline of 110%.

Again, language in the city’s agreement required this action, but they voted in their Sept. 24 meeting to allow a surviving spouse, in such a situation, to remain in his or her home.

However, the President of the CLT Board argued that the council should allow the CLT to use their standard ground lease to govern inheritance matters for these homeowners.

Our ground lease allows any family member, not just the surviving spouse, to inherit the family home, regardless of income level. We were disappointed that the City Council did not extend this right of homeownership to all heirs of these three homes at 24th and Hoover. But the situation is complex, and it is understandable that misinterpretations of our organization’s policies can be made.

To learn more about the Community Land Trust model of homeownership, visit http://www.iceclt.org/. If you want specific information on the Story County CLT and housing opportunities in Ames, feel free to contact me. Otherwise, please phone 460-4260 or write us at P.O. Box 91, Ames, IA 50010.

Trish Stauble

Board Secretary, Story County CLT

Staff, Dept. of BBMB