Bowling Green residents are weighing a Community Land Trust as a way to create long-term affordable housing, with a town hall-style meeting set for Friday, October 23 at the Veterans Building in City Park. The meeting is part of the City of Bowling Green’s Growing Home, Opening Doors to Affordable Housing initiative, a community-led effort supported by local, state and federal programs. It will introduce the Community Land Trust model and explore establishing one in the Bowling Green area.
Ahead of the meeting, BG SONG and City Council member Kathleen Dennis, along with Jenna Gibson from Bowling Green State University’s Doctorate in Organization Development and Change program, discussed the initiative and what residents would be asked to consider. Attendees were asked to RSVP to [email protected]. The discussion was intended to prepare the community for a broader conversation about how a land trust could work locally.
A community land trust is a nonprofit model that holds land long-term so homes on it can stay affordable across resales. Instead of the land being sold with each home in the usual way, the trust keeps a long-term interest in the land, which is designed to preserve affordability for future buyers as well as current residents. The Bowling Green proposal would apply that general model to local housing needs through a new trust formed for the area.
Interest ahead of the Friday meeting was broad. As of Thursday morning, 44 attendees had confirmed, representing City of Bowling Green administration and council members, Wood County Planning, Jobs and Family Services, the Cocoon, Habitat for Humanity, BGSU, lenders, a real estate agent and the Wood County Committee on Aging. That mix brought together local government, county services, housing and support organizations, educators, and financial and real estate participants in the same room.
The effort already has seed support for getting organized. In September 2026, BG SONG was awarded a $15,000 capacity-building grant from the John Henry Eldred Jr. Foundation to support formation of a Bowling Green area Community Land Trust. Capacity-building support is aimed at the work of forming an organization, which comes before any homes or land are part of a trust’s portfolio.
For residents, the appeal being explored is durability. Because the initiative is community-led and focused on long-term affordable housing, a land trust would be intended to keep affordability in place over time rather than for a single sale. The range of confirmed attendees reflects the partners that would need to be involved for such a model to move from concept to operation.
What happens next starts with the October 23 meeting at the Veterans Building in City Park. Residents will hear the Community Land Trust model explained, consider whether it fits Bowling Green, and discuss what establishing one in the area would require. No final structure was announced ahead of the meeting, and the session was framed as an introduction and exploration, giving attendees a chance to ask questions and weigh in before further steps are taken.
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