Columbus is quietly turning empty, city-owned lots into something far more valuable: permanently affordable homes that regular working households can actually buy. City officials say a renewed, larger-scale partnership with the Central Ohio Community Land Trust is now delivering dozens of these purchases across multiple neighborhoods, from single-family houses to the trust’s first-ever condo project in Franklinton. After several years of pilot efforts and council funding, the Department of Development is pitching this as a full-fledged strategy to lock in long-term affordability instead of watching land-bank parcels drift back into the speculative market.
Numbers and who’s buying
According to Facebook, the Central Ohio Community Land Trust closed 46 homes in 2025, with about 93 percent of those sales going to first-time buyers. The department noted that the buyers’ average household income is around $61,000, pointing to that figure as proof the program is reaching working households who are increasingly boxed out by neighborhood price hikes.
Projects in Franklinton and Linden
The trust’s latest pipeline features a 19-unit condominium development in Franklinton, the organization’s first multi-unit condo project, along with a 14-home single-family project in Linden known as Kohr Place. “It is no secret that housing is one of the greatest challenges of the present moment,” Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said in the announcement tied to the Franklinton reveal, framing the developments as part of the city’s broader affordability push.
COCIC describes the Franklinton corner-lot condos and their mix of units, while a related release details Kohr Place’s one- and two-story homes, which are listed at around $199,000. COCIC
City backing and the money behind it
The city has been backing COCLT projects through a series of Housing Development Agreements and Affordable Housing Bond allocations, and recent council documents show the Department of Development is now asking for more HDA authority for 2026 to keep the momentum going. Columbus City Council records spell out past appropriations along with a proposed 2026 agreement that would let the trust scale its work across more neighborhoods, using land-bank parcels and city subsidies as the foundation.
Officials say the basic recipe is a mix of city dollars, gap financing and conventional mortgages that keeps sale prices lower on the front end while preserving affordability for the next owner who comes along. In other words, the subsidy is designed to stay with the home, not disappear with the first sale.
How the land trust model works
Under the Central Ohio Community Land Trust model, the trust holds on to the land and sells only the home itself under a long-term ground lease. That structure means future resales share appreciation and keep prices affordable in perpetuity instead of resetting to full market rates each time there is a closing.
As explained on COCLT, the trust uses a 99-year renewable lease and a resale formula that tries to balance two goals at once: letting homeowners build some equity while maintaining long-term price restrictions. Supporters argue this approach helps stabilize neighborhoods and provides a middle path between renting forever and jumping straight into full market homeownership.
City and trust leaders say they plan to keep targeting vacant land bank lots and pairing those sites with subsidies, mortgage assistance and buyer education so that people who get in the door can actually stay there. If City Council signs off on the pending allocations, advocates expect the pipeline to grow beyond Linden and Franklinton into other Columbus neighborhoods where rising values might otherwise shut out would-be homeowners.
