About ROOTS CLT

Flooded neighborhood with partially submerged vehicles, houses, trees, and overcast sky after heavy rain.

Hurricane Helene displaced working families who have called WNC home for generations.

ROOTS CLT ensures they can stay.

Established in 2005, Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders (FCDR) has been rebuilding homes after disasters ever since. The organization launched operations in Western North Carolina the day after Hurricane Helene struck in 2024, helping families rebuild. With 20 years of experience, FCDR is a construction partner and board member of ROOTS, an independent land trust accountable to its homeowners and the community it serves. ROOTS stands for Resilience, Opportunity, Ownership, Trust, and Stability and is a long-term solution to the area’s housing crisis as well as hurricane recovery.

Aerial view of a neighborhood with a blueprint overlay showing a park layout, roads, residential houses, and landscape features.

ROOTS is developing 50 permanently affordable homes at 399 Blue Ridge Road in Black Mountain, NC, for families displaced by Hurricane Helene. This includes families who lost homes they cannot return to, mobile homes, and rental properties that no longer exist.

ROOTS serves:

  • Helene survivors across WNC who lost their homes and do not have a path to rebuild

  • Workforce families (teachers, nurses, tradespeople) in insecure housing at risk of leaving the region

  • Mobile home residents who lost their lot and cannot afford land in WNC

  • Renters who lost long-term housing with no comparable replacement available

The CLT provides access to land and housing for people who are otherwise priced out of the housing market. ROOTS’ site plan includes 20 single-family homes, 30 duplex units, driveway access, community gardens, green space, a dog park, and walking trails.

ROOTS is 5 minutes from downtown Black Mountain, 8 minutes to Swannanoa, and 20 minutes to Asheville. The site is located within the Owen School District and near Veterans Park. The area benefits from strong community amenities and convenient access to key town attractions.

FOUNDING LEADERSHIP

Leadership of ROOTS Community Land Trust

ROOTS is led by people already serving WNC.

Bart Tucker

Co-Founder, Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders
President, ROOTS Board of Directors

Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and test pilot, Bart graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy and earned a Master’s in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University. He co-founded Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders in 2005 with his wife, Heather, and Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity. Bart has led disaster recovery nationwide for two decades and has never taken a salary.

Nathan West

Director, ROOTS Community land trust
Director of Operations, Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders

A lifelong North Carolina native and Black Mountain resident, Nathan brings construction and real estate expertise to ROOTS. He identified the need for a CLT serving the region before Helene. Today, he leads ROOTS operations and Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders’ regional rebuilding in Western North Carolina.

Since Hurricane Helene, Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders has been bringing hope and stability to families in Western North Carolina.

LEAD BUILDING PARTNER

A Proven Lead Partner:
Fuller CENTER disaster rebuilders

Founded after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders is a Christian 501(c)(3) nonprofit that rebuilds homes for uninsured, low-income families in major U.S. disaster zones, using volunteer labor to make recovery affordable.

For over 20 years, FCDR has united and overseen Amish and Mennonite craftspeople with Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Anglican, and nondenominational volunteers around one mission—restoring disaster survivors to home.

As lead partner, FCDR will provide initial governance and administrative support to ROOTS as well as coordinate the activities of community, financial, strategic, construction, and case management partners.

VOLUNTEER LEVERAGE + DELIVERY CAPACITY

Built by volunteers with love.

Volunteer labor turns donor investment into homes, dignity, and community. ROOTS is not being built like a conventional housing development. It is being built through a community of people who show up with tools, skill, faith, and dedication. Fuller Center Disaster ReBuilders brings construction leadership and volunteer capacity to provide safe, secure, and affordable homes.

$8.4 Million volunteer labor savings versus commercial construction labor costs