Albuquerque uses public/private funds and nonprofit community land trust to create and sustain "The Sawmill" , an affordable housing development for qualifying first time homebuyers and families. We have been there. It is attractive, clean, orderly, well-managed and fills a desperate need for housing for qualifying people. City of Albuquerque provides down payment assistance to some first time homebuyers in the development.

http://www.sawmillclt.org/

There are many other examples of the use of land trusts around the country to create and sustain affordable housing developments. For example:

http://www.dakotalandtrust.org/clt-model.html

There is also a national support network of technical advice on how to do this.

http://cltnetwork.org/faq/

Well worth your time to look into in detail.