Peace Village
What It Is
A permanently affordable cohousing community in Eugene, Oregon. 70 homes developed using a CLT-LEHC hybrid structure, serving households at 30-60% Area Median Income.
Why It Matters
Peace Village is the clearest proof of concept for the CLT-LEHC model at meaningful scale:
- **370,000 typical for tax credit affordable housing projects
- Serves genuinely low-income households (30-60% AMI), not just “workforce housing”
- Uses the cooperative blanket mortgage structure
- CLT ground lease prevents demutualization
The cost differential is striking — roughly half the per-unit cost of conventional affordable housing development. This is partly due to the cooperative structure (no developer profit extraction, simpler financing) and partly due to the smaller unit sizes typical of cohousing.
What to Investigate Further
- How did they finance the initial capital stack?
- What CDFIs or mission-aligned lenders were involved?
- What does governance look like at 70 units?
- How are carrying charges structured and what do they actually cost residents?
- How has it held up over time — any demutualization pressure?
Relevance to the CLT Project
Peace Village is the closest existing model to what the CLT project is attempting. The main differences:
- CLT project targets ~96-100 units (larger)
- CLT project is in Durham, NC (different regulatory environment, different CDFIs)
- CLT project has a more explicit mutual aid / community philosophy layer
At 15.6M — toward the lower end of the cost range estimated for the Vivaldi parcel, and significantly more achievable than conventional affordable housing development.