ABOUT
NevCo West CLT
OUR STORY
In Service of Western Nevada County
NevCo West Community Land Trust was founded by Tracy Huston and Jonathan Collier in 2024 to address the need for housing for the “missing middle” low to moderate income people in Western Nevada County.
While our county has made great strides in providing emergency shelter and transitional housing for very low income households, as well as permanent supportive housing for the people who need ongoing support, there remains a gap: housing affordable to young people and families just starting out, for our teachers and farmers and fire fighters, for our elders on fixed incomes, and the minimum wage earners who keep our restaurants and coffee shops and grocery stores running.
For our neighbors who earn too much to qualify for subsidized housing and yet not enough to afford the high market rates, NevCo West CLT provides a solution.
Buidling Affordably
Through smart design and project management, NevCo West CLT homes can be rented or sold below market rates, at prices low to moderate income people can afford.
Preserving Affordability
The CLT preserves affordability for the lifetime of properties by restricting rent or sale prices to no more than 30% of what middle to low income households earn.
Assuring Stability
Flexible ownership models provide pathways to home ownership.
Board of Directors
With years of experience in resilient community development, design, and building, Tracy and Jonathan serve on the Board and as co-executive directors.
Our Directors include highly regarded leaders who represent our community stakeholders.
Sandra M. Barrington, CFRE
Sandra serves as the Executive Director for Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation in Grass Valley. With more than 20 years of nonprofit development experience, she has served Sierra Nevada’s foundation since 2007. Sandra’s experience focuses on major gifts, planned gifts, grant acquisition and management, and strategic planning. Her passion for affordable housing started from volunteering for NGOs in her teenage years building houses in Mexico. The passion continues from her own lived experiences and those of her friends with the challenges of acquiring affordable housing locally. Sandra is deeply involved with her community, and is the past President Grass Valley Rotary, President of the Board of Trustees for the Nevada City School District, and past President and founding Board Member for Sierra Harvest.
Jonathan Collier, Director and Co-ED
Jonathan co-founded Live Work Thrive Nevada County, an organization focused on local housing and economic solutions for Gen-X/Y/Z. With a passion for generating results that are socially and ecologically responsible, Jonathan has worked as an advocate for farmers, small businesses, and entrepreneurs in partnership with county agencies and nonprofits to build economic opportunities and the quality of life for the entire community, and has co-led the planning and design of numerous community developments. With well-established relationships among Nevada County key agencies, Jonathan has co-led stakeholder engagement to refine the CLT model as well as to identify and assess opportunities for community housing projects.
Alex Gammelgard
Alex, Chief of Police, Grass Valley Police Department, is a long-time resident of western Nevada County who joined the Grass Valley Police Department in 2005 as a patrol officer. He rose through the ranks, including serving as a detective, sergeant, lieutenant and president of the Police Officers’ Association before becoming Chief of Police in 2016. Chief Gammelgard has developed successful partnerships with citizens, organizations, school districts, and the business community and has a track record of progressive community policing and innovative initiatives to build community trust. He believes that comprehensive housing options and affordability are critical to the health, safety, and well-being of our community.
Tracy Huston, President and Co-ED
Tracy founded NevCo West CLT driven by her passion to help solve for our housing crisis, and based on her 20 years of experience with large scale community transformation projects comprising housing and economic development for low-income communities in Detroit, Los Angeles, Taos, and globally, in partnership leaders from with MIT, Tufts, Oxfam, Volunteers of America, and several Fortune 500 corporations. Her work with LEED architects and government, nonprofit, and neighborhood groups evolved innovations in affordable housing to enable self-sufficiency. Since moving to Nevada County in 2014, Tracy has proven scalable models for building housing affordably to assure access to quality homes for low-income households and partnered with local stakeholders to enhance our collective impact.
Jennifer Singer, CFRE
Jennifer is the Executive Director of Bright Futures for Youth, an organization she has evolved since 1995 from the Friendship Club, the merger with NEO (New Events and Opportunities) in 2020, and the creation of SAFE (Stability, Access, Foundation, Empowerment), a program that helps youth experiencing housing instability. Bright Futures for Youth assists several hundred children and young adults every year and was named Nonprofit of the Year for the 1st District of California in 2022. A native of Nevada County with dedication to strengthening our entire community, she also serves as a Board member of the Nevada County Community Foundation, the Nevada County Continuum of Care, CalYouth, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, and the Nevada City School District. Jennifer is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and is Board President of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership.