Your Community
Made Better
Affordable housing • community land trust • inclusionary housing
About
Robert Dowling
I’m an expert in helping local governments and non-profit organizations create affordable housing in their communities.
A former banker in New York and Chicago, I left the corporate world in 1994 and moved to Carrboro with my wife, Bethaney. I recently retired from my role as executive director of Community Home Trust which is now recognized as a leader in providing permanently affordable housing that is integrated into market-rate neighborhoods.
During my time there we:
- Designed and implemented the community land trust model
- Grew the inventory from zero to 320+ homeownership and rental units
- Worked with the Town of Chapel Hill to develop their inclusionary housing policy
- Established sustainable sources of funding from local governments, private grants, and fundraising
Affordable and Inclusionary Housing
Robert Dowling
Consulting
Services
Work with someone who has experience in the trenches.
Not sure where to start?
I can help you define the issues and design the solutions. Together we will evaluate options for sustainable housing models that are appropriate for your needs and may include:
- Working with local governments, elected officials, developers, and neighbors
- Exploring the community land trust model
- Developing an inclusionary housing policy
- Adding single family and rental units to your inventory
- Project consulting
Affordable Housing
Is housing affordability becoming more of a challenge?
What tools are available to address these challenges?
Previous
Next
Community Land Trust
Is long-term affordability important in your market?
If so, how is it best achieved?
Previous
Next
Inclusionary Housing
Is inclusionaryhousing an interest in your town or city?
Can a voluntary inclusionary housing ordinance be effective?
While serving as the Executive Director of Community Home Trust in Chapel Hill NC, we grew our inventory to 266 affordable homeownership units and 59 rental units.
We initiated the community land trust (CLT) model, administered Chapel Hill’s inclusionary housing program and acquired a tax credit rental property.
There were many twists and turns and lessons learned along that trail and I’m ready to share the knowledge of what worked to help put you on the path to success in your community.
Case Study
Providing affordable housing in condominium developments presents a unique set of challenges.
The Town of Chapel Hill’s inclusionary housing policy required that 15% of each condo development be affordable. Although the affordable condos would be priced to be affordable to households earning less than 80% of median income, I was concerned that monthly condo dues and special assessments would cause these homes to become unaffordable over time.
Working with developers and the Town staff, I helped craft solutions to this potential affordability problem. One solution was for the Town to require that sellers of market-rate condos pay a 1% transfer fee to Community Home Trust. Those funds would be dedicated to assisting the affordable condo owners with monthly dues and special assessments (if necessary).
For ten years, Community Home Trust has been collecting those transfer fees, depositing the funds into a dedicated account and using the funds to reduce the monthly dues of our homeowners. Without the transfer fee, the increases in the monthly condo dues would have caused these condos to become unaffordable.
Contact Me for a free consultation