--- title: the people who keep a place alive should be able to live there canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/the-people-who-keep-a-place-alive-should-be-able-to-live-there markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/the-people-who-keep-a-place-alive-should-be-able-to-live-there.md subtitle: "real pay first, then a home that does not hang on a job or a token price" category: nature-finance --- # the people who keep a place alive should be able to live there *real pay first, then a home that does not hang on a job or a token price* In February 2024 the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation announced a $40 million gift from anonymous donors for more than 70 new employee homes at Yellowstone. The release names the causes: rising property values in communities around parks and growing demand for vacation rentals near them. Park employees commute long distances, and the agency struggles to recruit and keep staff. A Foundation assessment of Acadia, Yosemite and Grand Teton found those three parks need more than $115 million to add over 200 homes. That evidence comes from US national parks, not from the ranches, reserves and watersheds this series is about. It is a parallel, not a measurement. But anyone who keeps land near a place people want to visit will recognize the commute. [The people keeping nature alive should make a lot of money](/guide/the-people-keeping-nature-alive-should-make-a-lot-of-money?from=guide) makes the case for the pay. This post adds the address. It belongs to a series on the **nature state**, which starts from a living place and organizes money, work, homes and belonging around keeping it alive. :::johnson **pay first, then a home.** Stewards should earn real money they can spend and have a secure home near the work. The home adds to the pay; it never replaces it. [fund the work on the land you keep →](/solutions/land-stewards?from=guide&topic=nature-state) ::: ## what steward housing is **Steward housing** is a secure home near the work for the people who keep a living place working: ranch hands, crews, rangers, caretakers. It is part of the design of a place, not a perk of a job. It is never about housing the people who already live there: existing and customary residents, including Indigenous communities, keep their homes and rights first. Three ties can make work housing fragile. Each can give someone leverage over the steward that has nothing to do with the land. | the home hangs on | what goes wrong | what we want instead | |---|---|---| | the job | Leave the job, lose the house, so people can stay in work they should leave | Tenure that outlasts a change of role | | staying quiet | Reporting a problem can put the family's roof at risk | Tenure that does not end because someone raised a concern | | a token price | A home tied to a coin or membership token can fall with the market | No home that depends on holding a token or on its price | One rule sits over all three in our design: housing never substitutes for pay. A wage lowered because a cabin comes with it is a pay cut with a roof. ## what is already built [*ensurance*](/?from=guide) gives a place an account that receives money and routes it to the work. Three pieces are live. - **The sale is the payment.** A certificate sale pays the account it names in the same transaction, priced in USDC or EURC among other currencies ([paid on arrival](/guide/paid-on-arrival?from=guide)). - **The crew is on the split.** A person is paid by being named on the place's split; splits, swappers and streams route funded balances onward ([proceeds pay all the time](/guide/proceeds-pay-all-the-time?from=guide)). - **Steady money.** A coin that arrives can be swapped for dollars or euros when a market exists. Receiving is not converting; nothing converts automatically on arrival ([any coin, steady money](/guide/any-coin-steady-money?from=guide)). And what is not built: - **Scheduled payroll.** Proceeds move when money arrives, not on a pay date. - **Holder distributions.** Designed, not live; none has been paid ([what stewardship funding is designed to pay](/guide/what-stewardship-funding-is-designed-to-pay?from=guide)). - **Homes.** No housing, residence or booking system exists, and the network has no steward homes, lodges or food provision. No parcel is held at entrust yet, and instruments carry no claim on land ([every instrument stands on a real asset](/guide/every-instrument-stands-on-a-real-asset?from=guide)). Money can reach a named place in stable currency today. The home is the part nobody has built. ## what we want to build **Real pay first.** Wages in money people can spend, priced into what the place sells before any investor return. Not a token allocation, not hoped-for appreciation. **Then the home, with food and belonging on top.** A secure home near the work could come with a shared kitchen or garden where the land suits it. These add to income and wealth; they do not count against them. **Tenure that holds.** A home that does not end when a job changes, a concern is raised, or a token price falls. That means separating the home from the employer and from any tradable instrument, in real leases and deeds, not a smart contract alone. **Built in before demand makes exclusion lucrative.** If some of these places become more sought after (a hypothesis to test place by place, not a promise), the pressure to turn steward homes into guest rooms could rise with it. Steward housing belongs in the plan before the first lodge, on ground that can take building while the core stays protected. See [what conservation development actually is](/guide/what-conservation-development-actually-is?from=guide) for where homes can go, and [when the park raises the rent](/guide/greening-without-displacement?from=guide) for how improvement evicts. Older tools exist. US federal rules define a **community land trust** as a private nonprofit community housing development organization established to acquire land, held in perpetuity, primarily for conveyance under long-term ground leases. Our older post on [usufruct](/guide/usufruct-land-access-without-debt?from=guide) is an aspiration, not a right. None of this exists yet. It needs builders. ## build it with us - **Land trusts and conservancies** with land, and a crew that cannot afford to live near it. - **Community land trusts**, who know how to keep a home affordable for decades. - **Cooperatives**, who know how to give workers a share of the enterprise. - **Housing funders and foundations**, who can pay for homes a place's revenue cannot carry alone. You bring land, legal tools and capital. Ensurance brings accounts that pay a named place in dollars or euros, and splits that reach the crew. [Bring a place and a crew →](/solutions/land-stewards?from=guide&topic=nature-state) If you fund housing, [talk to us directly](/contact?from=guide&topic=nature-state). ## frequently asked questions ### what is steward housing? A secure home near the work for the people who keep a living place working. In a nature state it comes after real pay, never instead of it, and does not depend on one job or one token's price. ### does a certificate or coin give anyone a right to live on the land? No. A certificate records that a buyer funded a named place; a coin trades in its own pool. Neither grants access, tenancy, title or control. A right to live somewhere is written in a lease or deed with whoever holds the land. ### is ensurance building steward homes? Not today. No housing system exists. What exists is the payment side; the homes are what we want to build with others. ## sources [National Park Foundation and National Park Service announce $40 million gift to meet urgent need for employee housing at Yellowstone National Park](https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/24006.htm) — the gift, the causes of the shortage, and the three-park assessment (February 29, 2024) [7 CFR 3555.10, definitions](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-7/section-3555.10) — the federal definition of a community land trust ## the series 1. [a network state starts online. a nature state starts on the land.](/guide/what-is-a-nature-state?from=guide) — **Read first:** What a nature state is, what is already built, and what we want to build with others 2. [what a nature bank could be](/guide/what-a-nature-bank-could-be?from=guide) — Accounts, currencies and reserves for a living place, and what is not a bank 3. [the people who keep a place alive should be able to live there](/guide/the-people-who-keep-a-place-alive-should-be-able-to-live-there?from=guide) — Real pay first, then a home that does not hang on a job or a token price 4. [a village that starts with what not to build](/guide/a-village-that-starts-with-what-not-to-build?from=guide) — One illustrative place: a protected core, homes on the right ground, a lodge that can fail safely 5. [one token can't be your home, your vote and your visit](/guide/one-token-cant-be-your-home-your-vote-and-your-visit?from=guide) — Separate rights for protection, residence, visits, money and voice 6. [from popup city to places that fund each other](/guide/from-popup-city-to-places-that-fund-each-other?from=guide) — A month-long city leaves; the watershed stays. An invitation to build the network ## the series 1. [a network state starts online. a nature state starts on the land.](/guide/what-is-a-nature-state?from=guide) — **Read first:** What a nature state is, what is already built, and what we want to build with others 2. [what a nature bank could be](/guide/what-a-nature-bank-could-be?from=guide) — Accounts, currencies and reserves for a living place, and what is not a bank 3. [the people who keep a place alive should be able to live there](/guide/the-people-who-keep-a-place-alive-should-be-able-to-live-there?from=guide) — Real pay first, then a home that does not hang on a job or a token price 4. [a village that starts with what not to build](/guide/a-village-that-starts-with-what-not-to-build?from=guide) — One illustrative place: a protected core, homes on the right ground, a lodge that can fail safely 5. [one token can't be your home, your vote and your visit](/guide/one-token-cant-be-your-home-your-vote-and-your-visit?from=guide) — Separate rights for protection, residence, visits, money and voice 6. [from popup city to places that fund each other](/guide/from-popup-city-to-places-that-fund-each-other?from=guide) — A month-long city leaves; the watershed stays. An invitation to build the network