The Reno City Council on Wednesday agreed to convey city-owned property in the North Valleys to a non-profit organization, which plans to build single-family homes for those earning less than 80% of the area’s median income.
The Community Housing Land Trust LLC is expected to construct 10 homes on 2.5 acres near the junction of West Golden Valley Road and North Virginia Street near Yorkshire Drive by the end of 2021. People would own the homes but the land would stay with the trust.
Community land trusts are nonprofit organizations designed to ensure stewardship of land and are primarily used to ensure long-term housing affordability.
The total project cost is estimated at $4.4 million. Designs show 1,405 square foot, one-story homes with four bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a laundry room, pantry and den, and attached two-vehicle garage. Additional amenities include vaulted ceilings, gas fireplace, rear patio, and fenced yards. Similar homes on the open market would cost about $100,000 more, according to estimates.
“The number of units and quality of homes are generally consistent with the current neighborhood and applicable zoning,” Jeff Limpert, city management analyst, wrote in a report to council members.
Rather than donate a separate parcel at 0 Mayberry Drive in southwest Reno, which is 0.4 acres, the Community Foundation of Western Nevada is asking the city to sell the parcel on its behalf. The hope is for the foundation to receive additional revenue needed to construct homes there and keep them at the 80% level sought.
The Community Foundation of Western Nevada, through its land trust, developed the Village on Sage Street Dorm Project in 2018. It’s a 192-unit dormitory-style modular affordable housing complex at 250 Sage St. for people earning less than 60% of the area’s median income.
Washoe County’s median income was approximately $71,881, according the to the 2019 U.S Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
For more information on Community Foundation of Western Nevada housing projects, visit https://nevadafund.org/housing/.
