Founded 27 years ago in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, Athens Land Trust preserves, protects and strengthens the fabric of the community.

Image

They've found success through education and the stewardship of land for purposes of affordable housing, conservation, agriculture and economic development. Timothy Block spoke with Athens Land Trust Executive Director Heather Benham to dig deeper into their work.

Timothy Block: Tell us a little bit about the work that you do at Athens Land Trust.

Heather Benham: I’m the executive director at Athens Land Trust, which means I have touchpoints with all our programs –from housing to community agriculture, to education. 

A fair amount of my time is spent working on special projects, listening to community members, and figuring out how we execute their vision.

TB: How are Section 4 funds used at your organization? What do you hope to accomplish when this project is complete?

HB: Right now, we use Section 4 funds to support our capacity to better ensure that our aging tax credit project is in as good of a position as possible as we reach the end of our compliance period.

I’m hoping that we end up with a plan to enhance the project, improve our financial standing with the project, and that we keep high quality apartments affordable for our community.

TB: How did Covid-19 challenge you at Athens Land Trust? How was your service population challenged? What has been the hardest part of the experience for Athens Land Trust?

HB: It is still a challenge in many ways. When we work with a population that is already suffering from a digital divide, the pandemic has made communication patterns even more difficult and leaves people even further out of the loop.

We stepped up to help our local government address the economic crisis in our community by providing childcare support, rent & utility assistance, mortgage relief, etc. It was hard.

It was a strain on our staff – listening to the stories of how folks had been negatively impacted by the pandemic – stories of loss, stories of trauma, folks showing up at our office with all of their things in a bag looking for somewhere to go.

That work consumed a lot of our bandwidth – and other projects were put on hold. We lost staff over the stress and strain of operating that program. 

TB: What have you learned in this unique and challenging time? Will you make any permanent changes going forward?

HB: Well, the cracks already existed, but the pandemic has certainly highlighted them. We are having conversations now about how we integrate mental health support into our programming – the pandemic has certainly exacerbated the need. 

TB: Tell us a little bit about how you see the next 3-6-12 months at Athens Land Trust?

HB: I’m worried for our community. We’ve started receiving calls this week for our housing counselor from folks facing foreclosure. The number of apartments that changed hands over the last year, the new owners made some upgrades, and now the rents are going up.

I don’t want to be an alarmist, but when you start seeing trends it’s hard not to get worried.

We will keep doing much of the work we have been doing, but it does feel like there’s this need to respond to community needs in real time, without overwhelming the staff of the organization. That is a real challenge.

TB: What do you think will change about affordable housing over the next five years? How are you excited about Athens Land Trust impacting that change?

HB: It feels like there will need to be even more and larger subsidies to make the creation of affordable housing a reality. As construction costs soar, property values rise, and incomes stay stagnant, the gap continues to grow.

Without more meaningful subsidies and sources with capacity to support increased production, it feels like pushing a boulder up a hill.

I am excited that the work we do at the land trust lasts – these homes don’t become student housing, but they continue to serve families building equity in our community. Another element of our work that I’m proud of is that we are doing real community engagement – the work we do is driven by the people we serve.

TB: What else should people know about Athens Land Trust?

HB: We’re more than just a land trust. The reality is when you work closely with a community for an extended period of time, different needs arise and if there isn’t a clear partner to take on solving the latest need, it requires figuring out how to be adaptable, creative, and solution oriented. We clearly can’t solve everything, but real community development work requires a holistic approach that goes way beyond building and businesses.