One Roof Community Housing

One Roof Community Housing provides permanently affordable homeownership opportunities to low-moderate income households. Income-qualified buyers purchase homes for $20,000-$60,000 below market value. The buyers agree to pass on the benefits that they received to another income-qualified household when they choose to sell.

Emily Kniskern (pictured above) recently transitioned from renting a 300 square ft apartment where her and her daughter shared a room to owning a 1100 square ft home.

“In terms of price, the One Roof Land Trust homes offered the best value. If I didn’t go through One Roof, I would have had to purchase a fixer-upper. I didn’t have the time, skills, or finances for that,” she said.

Six months after the closing, Kniskern is reveling in homeownership. Her home, which she now shares with her partner Brian and his two sons, Klaus 6, and Sonnen 4, is a thing of pride for her.

“My mortgage is only $3 more per month than I was paying in rent!” Kniskern exclaimed. “Plus, we have more freedom here. I hated 'shushing' Anja for fear that we were disrupting other tenants. Now, if she wants to jump like a kangaroo at 7am, she can!”

The family has enjoyed their proximity to city parks, selecting paint colors for rooms, and planting a garden. They have cherry trees, raspberries, and tomato plants in their yard.

Kniskern has also connected with her neighbors. “When we moved in, the college girls next door introduced themselves and brought over cookies. Another neighbor offered to help with yard work. That’s a first for us and it gives us the sense of really putting down roots.”

In addition, Kniskern feels that buying a home has given her the financial confidence and stability to set other goals, such as pursuing her Master’s Degree.

“If you want to stay in this community and buy a home, I can’t say enough good things about going through One Roof!”