The Watauga Community Housing Trust was established to create affordable home purchase opportunities for working-class families. We have been approached by a homeowner willing to sell their property to the Trust, and are working with the Junaluska Heritage Association to raise the funds to purchase it. We are seeking the community’s help to secure this opportunity and preserve this home for permanent affordable housing!

The Stakes: The funding needed to purchase this home is $55,000, and we have until August 1st to raise this support. This home is one of the oldest homes located within the historically-black Junaluska community. We are working alongside the Junaluska Heritage Association to secure this property and sell the home back to a Junuluska community member.

If this home were to sell on the open market, there is a high likelihood a new buyer would demolish and redevelop the home on the property. This is our chance to save a piece of Boone’s history! Your donation will go directly toward acquiring and fixing the original home on the property for long-term affordable housing.

This is a time-limited opportunity: we have less than four months to raise our funding target. We are just starting out as an organization, and know this is an ambitious goal. But this is the kind of opportunity a Housing Trust is designed to act on, so we felt the responsibility to try, and bring this project before our community. We are relying on the combined strength of our neighbors to help us get this done.

You can be part of this process by making a tax-deductible donation to our First Home Fund. Everyone who contributes will be commemorated once the home is secured, displaying how possible it is to get things done when our community comes together.

Make a donation with the link on this page, or by contacting wataugacommunityhousingtrust@gmail.com.

Check donations can be mailed to Watauga Community Housing Trust, PO Box 145, Boone, NC 28607.

Thank you. All donations will be recognized or can be made anonymously if desired. For more information, visit our website or email us with questions at wataugacommunityhousingtrust@gmail.com.

More Info:

Where is the property located?

The property is a single-family home in the Junaluska community, within walking distance to downtown Boone and Appalcart access. We are working alongside the Junaluska Heritage Association to fundraise and find a Junaluska community member for the home.

The address of the home will not be released to respect the privacy of the tenant currently occupying the home, until August 1st when the lease ends. This is our deadline for raising the funding as well.

How does a Housing Trust work?

Housing Trusts raise funds for a community set aside for affordable housing.

Housing Trusts work to create affordable housing in over 200 US communities. A Housing Trust functions like a conservancy for affordable housing, preserving safe and stable homes as a resource for future generations. A Trust raises funds to purchase land and work with landowners to establish legal agreements that designate homes for use as a long-term residences. Building a Housing Trust for Watauga will help connect our community to the growing support network for Housing Trusts around our state and the country. Read more about the housing trust model on our website here or on Grounded Solutions, a national Housing Trust advocacy organization.

How does this add affordable housing to the greater community?

This home will be the first property purchased by the Watauga Community Housing Trust. After purchasing and fixing up the home, the Trust resells it to a community member with a special contract that allows it to be used only as a primary residence. This also gives the Trust rights to repurchase the home after the original family no longer lives there. This process legally protects the property from being redeveloped or used for anything besides affordable housing.

Once the home is first sold by the Trust to a homeowner, the proceeds from that sale go toward the next land purchase for the Housing Trust, and the process repeats. This creates a perpetual fund that allows the Watauga community to purchase and designate land for affordable housing. By completing a first home purchase/renovation, we will also begin to qualify for federal affordable housing funds that are available to our community. This will bring in new money to purchase land and pay builders.

Become part of this process by helping us purchase our first Trust home. You’ll be part of not just one affordable housing project, but the building of a new system to accelerate home creation.

How is the Housing Trust run?

WCHT is a volunteer-run, member-led organization. With no paid staff, 100% of our fundraising can go toward our affordable housing goals. All Wataugans can vote for the organization’s leadership and shape our priorities by becoming a member. We meet monthly in Working Groups to get things done, and invite the community to our Quarterly Public Meeting every three months to share updates and hear your feedback. Check out our website for more info, and if you are unable to attend meetings but wish to participate, email us- there is something everyone can do and we can work around your schedule to have you involved.

Thank you for reading. WCHT will make updates on our progress throughout the summer. Join our mailing list when you make your donation, or email wataugacommunityhousingtrust@gmail.com to subscribe or ask any questions.
We appreciate you and we know with the combined talents of our community, we can get this done. Together we can create a whole new system for building affordable housing on this mountain, and we want you to be a part of it!

Cheers,

The WCHT Team

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WCHT First Home Fund

Help launch Watauga's Housing Trust with our first home purchase!