Buyers will own these Howell Township homes. A nonprofit will own the ground underneath.

Four homes planned for a lot in Howell Township will sell for about $250,000 each and are built to stay affordable for every buyer who follows, the nonprofit behind the project said.

It's a first of its kind partnership for Livingston County.

"70% of the people who work in Livingston County can't afford to live here," said Eileen Zilch, CEO of Community Catalysts, a nonprofit based in Howell.

"These are folks who are working in our grocery stores, folks that are first responders, our teachers who cannot afford to live in Livingston County," she said.

Other groups in the county have told CBS News Detroit that unaffordable housing costs are the root of the problem they see in people who are homeless or close to it.

Livingston County needs about 16,000 new housing units over the next decade, according to a Housing Needs Analysis CBS News Detroit reported on in May. Zilch said at the time that the average price of a for-sale home in the county was more than $450,000 at the end of 2025. The median home price in Howell was $385,000 in May, according to Redfin data reported by CBS News Detroit.

To qualify for one of the new homes, an applicant will need to earn no more than 60% of the area median income — about $55,000 a year for a single person and about $77,000 a year for a family of four.

The homes will stay affordable through a community land trust. The buyer owns the house, and Community Catalysts owns the land under it. When an owner sells, Zilch said, they keep all the equity they've built paying down the mortgage, plus 25% of the appreciation. The other 75% stays with the land trust, which she said keeps the home "perpetually affordable for all future buyers."

Zilch said owners aren't at risk of eviction, because they own their houses. What's shared is the equity. She said the trust also acts as a support system for homeowners, helping with things like finding contractors to do work on the houses.

Applications to buy one of the homes open Sept. 30.