There are small single family houses for sale in Milwaukee under $100,000. I’ve brought this up on the Milwaukee Reddit and the people on there seem to believe the only worthwhile places to live are in Wauwatosa, Bay View, Shorewood, etc. But not in Milwaukee.
The land trust means that the homeowners only own the house but not the land.
The average size of houses in the United States has increased from 831 square feet in 1790, to 945 square feet in 1910, to 2,496 square feet in 2019.
Over the same time range, the number of people living within each house as decreased. The average number of people per house in 1790 was nearly six, but by 2019 the average number of people per house had dropped to less than 2.5.
Additionally, newer houses have to be built to more strict code requirements and include newer technologies. These are some of the reasons why houses cost more now than in the 1950s.
To expand on the mechanics a bit: The land is rented to the homeowner for the duration at like $5 a month, and upon sale (at a fixed price) the equity is split equally with the trust.