OLATHE, Kansas — As dozens of local officials and advocates recently took a peak at Maura Heft’s new three-bedroom home, she proudly showed off her spacious kitchen with dark wood cabinets and joyfully explained that the home came with a finished basement.
Heft and her 6-year-old daughter were moving into their first home that they own. They are the first tenants to move into a new type of affordable housing constructed by Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City on the southern edge of Olathe in Johnson County.
It’s a 14-home neighborhood built on a community land trust. That’s a real estate tool that allows the organization to sell the homes at a reduced price — and keep them affordable in the future.
Habitat for Humanity sold the home to Heft for about $250,000, less than half of the average home price in the county.
Heft said moving into the new home is a life-changing moment for her and her daughter — who have been homeless for five years while staying with family or living in transitional housing — despite Heft working a full-time job.
“I do make a good income, but even with that it is difficult to find housing,” Heft said. “Having our own place and something that I own will build a foundation for my daughter, something I didn't have growing up.”
The development is significant because it is one of the first community land trusts in Kansas that features an entire neighborhood. The real estate mechanism has largely been used to create only a couple of affordable homes at a time.
But organizations across the country like Habitat for Humanity have begun to use it to build dozens of affordable homes at once.
Lindsay Hicks, president and CEO for Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City, said the organization wants to build an even larger community land trust neighborhood in Lenexa. That would include 50 homes.
“Our goal and our hope is to continue to develop at this larger scale,” Hicks said, “so we can serve and partner with more families to obtain affordable home ownership.”
The idea comes to Kansas as home prices continue to soar, making it harder and harder for lower-income residents to purchase one.
Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research shows the average home price in Kansas grew to $330,000 in 2025. That's nearly $100,000 more than the average Kansas home in 2020, about a 43% increase in five years.
Lack of affordable housing
Johnson County, which is part of the Kansas City metro area, is the most expensive housing market in Kansas.
In 2024, homes in Johnson County sold for an average price of about $560,000. That made it very difficult for Heft to ever envision owning her own home in the community where she grew up.
“There's no way I would have owned a home in Johnson County or Olathe without Habitat,” she said.
Local officials and advocates are trying to make housing more affordable. Many solutions focus on building more multi-family housing structures, like apartment complexes, that then offer more affordable rent prices.
However, Kansas lawmakers recently ended a tax incentive that helped fund the construction of affordable rental units because it cost the state too much money. That incentive is credited for creating thousands of new rental homes throughout the state.
Meanwhile, the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that Kansas is short more than 55,000 housing units for low-income residents.
While apartments might reduce overall housing costs, they do not provide an opportunity for residents to build wealth. When they pay the rent, those are dollars they will never get back.
Homeowners, on the other hand, build equity in their property by paying off a mortgage. They can cash in that equity when they sell homes, plus net any value the house has gained over time. That’s how the community land trust model can help lower-income residents escape rising rent costs while growing their personal wealth.
Liberal-leaning think tank the Urban Institute reports that researchers have found that community land trusts provide more equitable housing opportunities for low-income residents priced out of the normal real estate market.
The study showed owning a home on a community land trust led to better financial stability for the homeowners than if they were renting.
How it works
The community land trust allows Habitat for Humanity to sell the homes but own the land underneath them. The land is then leased for a very low price to the homeowner.
The homeowner still owns the structure and can do whatever they want with it. But if they ever choose to sell, that lease agreement includes a requirement for them to list their house with only 25% of the appreciated value included.
For example, let’s say someone purchases one of these homes for $250,000, but decides to sell when its value grows to $350,000, an appreciation of $100,000. The agreement means the homeowner can only list the home including 25% of that $100,000 increase. So the homeowners would list the home for $275,000, an increase of $25,000 in value.
In simple terms, they must resell the home at a reduced price. But they will still pocket a profit plus the equity they’ve earned by paying off their mortgage.
Hicks said that agreement ensures the homes will stay affordable and offers future homeowners making a modest income the same opportunity to buy a house and begin building wealth.
“We know when people have a safe place to call home and they actually own their home,” Hicks said, “they're building equity, they're building wealth, but they're also just changing the trajectory of their family and their lives.”
However, these projects also often prompt pushback from neighbors. Some nearby residents originally questioned whether the Olathe project would lower their property values. Habitat for Humanity leaders say residents in Lenexa are also asking that question.
But officials for the Johnson County Appraiser’s Office told the Kansas News Service that these homes are not used for comparisons during other property appraisals. Because they are in a special land trust, neighboring home values are not affected.
New affordable housing trend
Habitat for Humanity’s Olathe and Lenexa projects are part of a newer trend seen across the country. Hicks said her team toured an even larger project in Omaha after learning of successful Habitat neighborhoods in other states.
“(We) saw the change that it was creating within that community,” Hicks said, “but also to how they were meaningfully addressing this affordable housing crisis that we're in.”
It’s not just Johnson County. In nearby Douglas County, the affordable housing group Tenants to Homeowners in Lawrence has put about 120 homes on community land trusts over the past 25 years.
More recently, the organization also built a neighborhood, similar to the Olathe project.
Ashley Taylor, assistant executive director for Tenants to Homeowners, said the larger scale projects are a great way to address affordable housing shortages.
“When we're able to build larger sets of housing,” Taylor said, “it just allows us to serve more people that are in that lower income range.”
Back in Olathe, Democratic Johnson County Commissioner Janeé Hanzlik told the crowd of local officials and advocates gathered at the opening that she is proud the new neighborhood is joining the community.
“I hope this is one of many, many more developments like this through Habitat in Johnson County,” she said.
Habitat for Humanity of Kansas City expects to finish the remaining Olathe homes by the end of the year. The nonprofit was scheduled to present its proposed Lenexa project to city planning officials this week.
Dylan Lysen reports on social services and criminal justice for the Kansas News Service. You can email him at dlysen (at) kcur (dot) org.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio, KMUW and High Plains Public Radio.
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