Expanding Ownership: Shared Ownership Models to Increase Access to Housing and Farmland

Webinar Series

Two of the most important issues facing our communities are providing safe housing for all and supporting a new generation of farmers. Both housing and agriculture require access to land, and real estate is expensive! Ownership is out of reach for many members of our community, which limits people’s ability not just to find homes or farm successfully but also to build secure futures and access other opportunities.

However, new models of ownership are emerging that offer hope. These are the focus of a four-part webinar series, Expanding Ownership: Shared Ownership Models to Increase Access to Housing and Farmland. The series is designed for both professionals and community members who are passionate about increasing housing access OR farmland access and interested in learning about collaborative and community-based models to make ownership of real estate more accessible.

The four webinars will introduce a variety of tools for collaborative ownership and “shared equity”: models where individual homeowners or landowners share ownership with the community or with each other, in order to make their portion of ownership more affordable while still allowing them to build wealth. Each webinar will feature presenters with exciting examples of both housing and agriculture initiatives.

Webinar 1: Community Land Trusts. Tuesday, December 20, 5:30-6:30 pm.

Webinar 2: Owning the Building, Leasing the Land: Potential and Pitfalls. Tuesday, January 10, 5:30-6:30 pm.

Webinar 3: Cooperatives, LLCs, and Other Shared Ownership. Tuesday, January 31, 5:30-6:30 pm.

Webinar 4: Additional Shared Equity Tools: Adding Shared Equity Elements to Standard Ownership and Rental. Tuesday, February 21, 5:30-6:30 pm.

After the series, in March 2023 interested people will come together to network, share our own ideas, talk with experts about what might be possible in our region, and discuss what additional resources would be helpful.

The public is welcome to register for any or all parts of this series that interest them; individuals do not need to commit to all the events in order to be able to attend. Webinars will be recorded and available on the Vital Communities website.

This event series is being co-hosted by the White River Valley Consortium, a collective effort to increase the availability of housing that is affordable for young workers and new entrepreneurs, and the White River Land Collaborative, which seeks to build a resilient land-based economy rooted in equitable land access, collaborative relationships, and community involvement. (However, you do not need to live in the White River Valley in order to participate!)

Organizers include Vital Communities, The Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law and Graduate School, Green Mountain Economic Development Corporation, and Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission.