“THIS IS THE RUB ABOUT A COMMUNITY PLAN—

a community plan sets out a vision for what a community wants to see happen with properties that are owned by other people. People say that they would love housing to be affordable in their neighborhood, but if the community doesn’t own those properties, they don't control their use. You can't just wish a park into existence. You can’t just wish affordable housing into existence. You have to enable the nonprofit, community, and partners to actually own the property. That’s the fundamental truth that is missing in the economics of community development—because it’s a scary thing to take on a lot of distressed properties, even if you’re committed to the neighborhood. For every property you own, you have to pay taxes, you have to maintain it, you have to care for it, and you have to figure out how to make that property work in the marketplace or for affordable development.”