UPDATE February 2024:

Mast General Store has offered to match all new donations up to $25,000! Your donation will be doubled!

First Home Fund

Between February and July 2023, the Watauga community came together to purchase its first piece of property through the Watauga Community Housing Trust. Working in project partnership with the Junaluska Heritage Association, WCHT's supporters successfully raised the funding needed to secure a property in the historically-black Junaluska community. With the property secured, Watauga Community Housing Trust is now fundraising for Phase 2 of the First Home Fund, to complete needed renovations to keep the home in good repair before resale to a Junaluska community member. View our fundraising campaign for Phase 1 here, and see below on how to help WCHT renovate and preserve this home as its first permanently affordable housing opportunity:

Home Repair Details:

Our latest bank appraisal valued the home parcel at $234,000. The land value is appraised at $85,000, the home structure is appraised at $149,000, after several structural repairs have been completed to make the home structurally sound for a long-term resident. A structural engineering report and certified contractor quote have set the cost of these repairs at $71,000.

After completing these repairs through fundraising and other community support, WCHT will sell the home on the land for the structure's value, using the Housing Trust model to preserve the home as a permanently affordable home for the Junaluska neighborhood.

Our loan with LifeStore gives us six months to repair the home and resell the home. We are raising funds for this next step, which will complete the first home project using the Housing Trust model and prepare our organization for future member-led projects.

Support:

Donations for this project go directly toward paying local contractors to complete home repairs. We are actively reaching out to grant funders, local churches, government and business partners.

Donate using the link above, or mail a check to:

Watauga Community Housing Trust

PO Box 145

Boone, NC 28607

Thank you, please reach out if you have any questions. For more information on the project, please read below or visit wataugacommunityhousingtrust.org.

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 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 Members 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

Become a Member Today!

WCHT First Home Repair Fund

By Watauga Community Housing Trust

WCHT First Home Repair Fund

Phase 2: Repairs and Homebuyer Outreach