PRESS RELEASE: The Community Preservation Trust Receives Pioneering Impact Award at the Community Development Network of Maryland’s 16th Annual Community Development Awards of Excellence

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College Park, Maryland – The Community Preservation Trust announces it was awarded the Pioneering Impact Award, presented as part of the Community Development Network of Maryland’s annual awards ceremony held October 16th, 2023, in Ellicott City, Maryland. The Trust was recognized for an innovative application of the Affordable Housing Land Trust model in order to provide homeownership opportunities for income eligible individuals in College Park.

The Community Preservation Trust (the “Trust”), a Program of the College Park City-University Partnership, announces that it was recognized for its work to increase the rate of owner-occupied single-family homes in College Park, by buying homes at market rate and reselling them to income-eligible individuals and families. The award comes on the heels of the Trust’s first home sale to a long-term renter who became the homeowner of the very home that he rented for ten years. Claudia Wilson Randall, Executive Director of the Community Development Network of Maryland, presented the award to Daniel Cunningham, Executive Director of the Trust, joined by the staff of the Trust and of its parent organization, the College Park City-University Partnership. The Trust was one of several winners for excellence in community development. Awards were presented prior to an address by Jake Day, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Maryland DHCD is a key institutional partner for both the Community Preservation Trust and the Partnership’s Homeownership Program.

The Trust is one of fifteen Affordable Housing Land Trusts registered with the State of Maryland in accordance with the Affordable Housing Land Trust Act of 2010. Under the guidelines outlined by the state, the Trust conducts business as a community land trust, using an innovative shared equity model which allows it to sell homes at an affordable price. By separating the home from the land, the Trust is able to sell the home itself and retain ownership of the land at an agreed-upon value. The separation of home and land value thereby makes the home more affordable for purchase and provides greater access to long-term homeownership.

The Community Preservation Trust is an affordable housing land trust that provides a long-term intervention to stabilize neighborhoods and address affordability by purchasing homes and placing them into a shared-equity homeownership program for income-eligible households. This model reduces the sales price by holding the land and establishing a 99-year land trust agreement. It ensures owner-occupancy and community preservation and maintains long-term affordability. When the home is sold in the future, the Trust maintains first right of refusal, which provides an option to re-purchase the home before it is offered on the public market. If purchased, the Trust can then make the home available to a subsequent income-eligible household under a similar affordability arrangement—and the process repeats again and again.

Daniel Cunningham, Executive Director of the Trust, said “On behalf of the Board of the Partnership and the Advisory Board of the Trust, we are thrilled to be selected by Community Development Network of Maryland for the Pioneering Impact Award. To be recognized by our peers is a huge honor. It demonstrates that our approach to making homeownership affordable is working. “

Pictured (from left to right): Tawfiq Abdul-Karim, Senior Associate, Community Preservation Trust, John Papagni, Program Officer, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, Claudia Wilson Randall, Executive Director, Community Development Network of Maryland, Daniel Cunningham, Executive Director, College Park Community Preservation Trust, Susan Slingluff Hartmann, Executive Director, College Park City-University Partnership

As the home of the University of Maryland – the state of Maryland’s flagship institution, and Prince George’s County’s largest employer – the availability of affordable housing in College Park is of high importance to the city, region, and state. Achieving this goal is difficult due to the limited supply and high cost of housing in College Park. To combat the pervasive challenges of housing affordability, the City of College Park, the University of Maryland and the College Park City-University Partnership adopted the University Community Vision 2030, a joint vision that called for the creation of the Community Preservation Trust.

The Community Preservation Trust is a Program of the College Park City-University Partnership. The College Park City-University Partnership is the nonprofit local development corporation jointly sponsored by the City of College Park and the University of Maryland. The Partnership recognizes the success of the City of College Park and the University of Maryland are linked together. It works in dynamic collaboration to creatively and effectively facilitate cooperative efforts that achieve shared community purposes. The Partnership advances initiatives and policies to make College Park a more thriving, equitable and sustainable community for all.

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