{"id":290201,"date":"2026-07-13T10:25:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T14:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/?p=290201"},"modified":"2026-07-24T11:39:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:39:53","slug":"a-home-for-everyone-pima-county-community-land-trust-levels-the-playing-field-for-aspiring-homeowners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/a-home-for-everyone-pima-county-community-land-trust-levels-the-playing-field-for-aspiring-homeowners\/","title":{"rendered":"A Home For Everyone: Pima County Community Land Trust levels the playing field for aspiring homeowners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elsa Beltran never thought she would own a home. Median home prices in Pima County, Arizona have soared by 22% over the last five years to $368,000, and renting is not much more affordable either for Beltran, who works as a seamstress.<\/span><\/p>\n

That was until Beltran connected with the Pima County Community Land Trust (PCCLT), a nonprofit that provides affordable housing to low- and moderate-income people in southern Arizona. The nonprofit helped her purchase an affordable home at a discounted price, even when banks told her she couldn\u2019t afford one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, all Beltran thinks about is how she\u2019s going to grow her seamstress business from her home rather than when she will be forced to move again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever someone comes to my house, they say, \u2018Wow, look at how pretty your home is,\u2019\u201d Beltran said. \u201cAnd to all the world, I say, \u2018I went to the [Pima County] Community Land Trust, and all of them helped me out.\u2019 For me, it\u2019s a blessing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PCCLT<\/span><\/a> was founded in 2010 in response to the global financial crisis of 2008. The nonprofit works to create a steady supply of affordable homes in Pima County by rehabilitating existing affordable homes and developing new ones. Today, the organization has more than 127 properties in its portfolio.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were created as a response to a crisis,\u201d said Maggie Amado-Tellez, PCCLT\u2019s executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n

PCCLT also offers housing counseling services to about 150 households per year and connects homebuyers to down payment assistance through its partners at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and Pima County\u2019s local government.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people talk about affordable homes, they think of bricks and mortar, but it\u2019s really about the families,\u201d Amado-Tellez said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PCCLT\u2019s work is happening at a time when many people in Arizona are struggling to find homes they can afford. Arizona has become one of the most desirable markets for global real estate investors because of the state\u2019s population growth and tech employment. Meanwhile, the state has a gap of nearly 195,000 affordable homes for its lowest-income earners, <\/span>according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHousing isn’t sexy because the idea is still that people need to earn it, and they don’t understand that the playing field is not level,\u201d Amado-Tellez said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Being part of the NCRC network has helped PCCLT navigate the local landscape by providing the tools and knowledge needed to secure funding. Amado-Tellez said NCRC\u2019s research helped the organization navigate changes that the Department of Housing and Urban Development made to the Notice of Funding Opportunity for its Neighborhood Stabilization Grant.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Litza Mendez, PCCLT\u2019s operations manager, also credits NCRC\u2019s educational resources for helping PCCLT\u2019s housing counseling program remain in compliance. The training and oversight provided have not only helped PCCLT connect people with housing opportunities as part of NCRC\u2019s <\/span>Housing Counseling Network<\/span><\/a> but also ensured that the organization put its Neighborhood Stabilization grant money to good use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cProviding training for a little nonprofit like PCCLT has really helped us provide for our community in ways we never imagined,\u201d Mendez said. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Robert Davis is a Contributing Writer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Pima County Community Land Trust.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elsa Beltran never thought she would own a home. Median home prices in Pima County, Arizona have soared by 22% over the last five years to $368,000, and renting is not much more affordable either for Beltran, who works as a seamstress. That was until Beltran connected with the Pima County Community Land Trust (PCCLT), 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Davis","author_link":"https:\/\/www.robertdaviswrites.com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Elsa Beltran never thought she would own a home. Median home prices in Pima County, Arizona have soared by 22% over the last five years to $368,000, and renting is not much more affordable either for Beltran, who works as a seamstress. That was until Beltran connected with the Pima County Community Land Trust (PCCLT),…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290204,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290201\/revisions\/290204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}