Our Mission
To create new pathways to attainable homeownership by reducing the land and development barriers that keep working individuals and families from owning modest homes and building lasting stability.
The Home May Not Be the Only Barrier
Starter Home Initiative was created around a simple belief: homeownership should still be within reach for working individuals and families who want a modest home, stability and a place to put down roots.
But for many households, the challenge begins before a home is ever built. Land prices, surveys, engineering, utilities, permitting, site preparation and subdivision costs can make a modest homeownership opportunity financially impossible before construction even begins.
Our mission is to help reduce those barriers by creating attainable homeownership opportunities on land held for long-term affordability and by helping qualifying households make better use of suitable land that already exists.
Restoring the Starter Home
For generations, a modest first home gave working households the opportunity to build stability, equity and a stronger financial future.
As land and housing costs have risen and smaller attainable homes have become harder to find, that traditional first step into homeownership has become increasingly difficult.
Starter Home Initiative is focused on creating another way forward through modest homes, thoughtful land use and charitable assistance directed toward the barriers that often prevent homeownership from getting started.
Our Focus
The goal is not simply to make purchasing a home possible. It is to create homeownership that leaves households with enough financial breathing room to build their futures and participate in the communities around them.
Our programs are intended for genuine owner-occupied homeownership opportunities — not luxury development, speculative investment, short-term rentals or the creation of market-rate lots for resale.
Three Ideas at the Heart of Our Mission
Attainable Homeownership
Create realistic pathways to modest owner-occupied homes without unnecessary excess or speculative development.
Sustainable Living
Encourage thoughtful land use, efficient homes, shared gardens, responsible use of resources and communities designed for long-term living.
Community Connection
Create opportunities for families and neighbors to remain connected while respecting privacy, independence and individual homeownership.
More Than One Path to Homeownership
Not every homeownership opportunity begins in the same place. Sometimes a new community must be created from the ground up. Other times, suitable land already exists and the challenge is making another home legally and financially possible.
Community Land Trust Neighborhoods
Starter Home Initiative can acquire and retain land through a Community Land Trust structure while qualifying households purchase or finance their individual homes through long-term ground leases.
Separating the cost of the land from the individual home purchase can help make ownership more attainable while preserving affordability for future qualifying homeowners.
These communities may include modest homes, shared gardens, greenhouse or community space, walking paths and other sustainable features that support connection while preserving individual homeownership.
The Orchard Shire is our first proposed demonstration of this approach.
Family Land & Predevelopment Assistance
In other cases, suitable land may already be privately owned. A family may have enough property to potentially create another legal homeownership opportunity for an adult child or another qualifying household.
Starter Home Initiative may help address eligible predevelopment barriers such as feasibility work, surveys, engineering, permitting, utility planning and subdivision-related costs where local regulations allow another ownership opportunity to be created.
The nonprofit does not need to own the land under this approach. The goal is to help create a genuine, independent and owner-occupied starter home while allowing families to make thoughtful use of land they already have.
Building Homeownership That Lasts
Starter Home Initiative is being built around a broader goal: creating practical homeownership opportunities that can be adapted to different families, properties and communities while remaining focused on modest homes, long-term stability and responsible land use.
Making Homeownership Possible Again
Our purpose is simple: create more realistic opportunities for working individuals and families to own modest homes, build stability and put down lasting roots in their communities.
EXPLORE THE ORCHARD SHIREProgram eligibility, available assistance and development options depend on household circumstances, project feasibility, local land-use requirements and the restrictions of available funding sources.