New Housing Non-Profit, The Nantucket Land Trust, Forms With Tucker Holland At The Helm

Nantucket has a new non-profit focused on affordable and attainable housing. The new Nantucket Land Trust (NLT), under the leadership of former island housing director Tucker Holland, will follow the community land trust model, under which the trust owns the land while the homeowner owns the building.

“There's no other nonprofit that's set up this way that can do the things we're doing,” Holland said, stressing that NLT will work to provide housing to year-round residents making more than 80 percent of the area median income, the threshold often used as an affordable housing cutoff, who still can’t afford housing on island.

“On Nantucket, people of all income levels really struggle to find suitable, stable year-round housing that is affordable to them,” he said. “We're looking forward to being a partner in the effort amongst all of the entities that are trying to address the housing situation here. No one organization can solve the problem. It's going to take a dozen different solutions. We think we can bring something meaningful to the community.”

NLT received the Select Board’s unanimous endorsement Wednesday, after previously obtaining support from the Affordable Housing Trust. NLT follows a similar model to the one adopted by the Island Housing Trust on Martha’s Vineyard, another community land trust. The chief executive officer of the Island Housing Trust, Phillipe Jordi, also serves on the board of the Nantucket Land Trust.

Other board members include affordable housing developer Billy Cassidy, former president of the Nantucket Association of Real Estate Brokers Penny Dey, and local attorney Arthur Reade.

The idea of a community land trust on Nantucket has been discussed for years, but after leaving his position with the town of Nantucket, Holland decided to finally make it a reality.

“Even when the town wants to do something, it just is really difficult with all of the governmental red tape, and that is not unique to Nantucket,” Holland said. “I began to feel like once we got $140 million to work with, the town really needed nonprofit partners who were aligned with their mission in terms of year-round housing, so that's when the idea of a community land trust was born.”

The issue of affordable housing on Nantucket may seem intractable. But Holland believes that the problem can be solved—even if it might take a long time.

“I believe we can have sustainable, suitable, affordable, attainable housing that properly serves our year-round community,” Holland said. “We can solve it. I absolutely believe it. Not one organization, but all of us working together.”