Faith-based organizations are chipping away at the nation’s affordable housing crisis by focusing on projects that directly address challenges in their own communities, according to a nonprofit community development organization.
More and more, churches are taking a “yes in God’s backyard” approach to converting unused and under-utilized properties into affordable housing, said Valerie White, head of national housing strategic initiatives for the Local Initiatives Support Corp., or LISC.
In the process, houses of worship across the country are convincing neighbors, cities and states to get on board with efforts to overcome “not in my backyard” attitudes that often stymie developments that benefit marginalized people, including the homeless and working poor, she said.
Valerie White
“Mission-driven organizations are uniquely situated to have a positive effect in this area because they are deeply rooted in communities and often are already using their networks to help address serious local needs.”
And congregations are especially qualified to enter this arena due to the demographic and economic shifts that have saddled them with excess land, White said. “Many of them have properties that are under-utilized and that they themselves would like to convert into affordable housing to address the needs of the housing crises where they are.”
In an effort to inspire more religious groups to explore creative and compassionate uses of property, LISC recently released a study called “Yes In God’s Back Yard: How Faith-Based Organizations are Reshaping the Affordable Housing Market.”
The document presents faith- and community-based development projects from California to New York that have created “spaces where families can live, work and play.”
One of the projects is being spearheaded by Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church near Buffalo, N.Y. With guidance from LISC, the 157-year-old congregation is leading development of the Lackawanna Life Center Campus, a project that will include at least 50 senior-housing units, access to medical care and fitness and day care centers.
“We are in desperate need,” Mt. Olive Pastor Keith Mobley said in a WKBW report about the development. “This community has been in the backside for a long time of not having these services, and members of the community have to leave the city just to find services such as this.”
In the San Francisco Bay Area, LISC has guided affordable housing developments in cooperation with 40 faith-based and other community organizations since 2019. It provided $2.1 million in direct support plus expertise needed to navigate local and state regulations.
Mt. Olive project
“Developing affordable housing requires specialized knowledge and relationships to successfully navigate project management, funding, deal structuring, and more,” the report notes.
But the region also exemplifies the challenges that continue there and across the country: “The Bay Area needs 180,000 new units by 2031” with nearly half of residents considered “housing burdened.”
The 2008 global financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing wage stagnation and the spike in construction costs have created a “perfect storm” for families struggling to rent or purchase homes.
As a result, polling has found nearly 70% of Americans are “very concerned” about the present and future availability of affordable housing.
LISC advocates for federal and state legislators to continue to introduce legislation that clears the zoning and financial hurdles churches and other groups face when trying to create affordable housing, White said. “We are seeing more of these kinds of measures which tells us there is a larger movement developing to give faith-based and mission-driven organizations the opportunity to develop their land to meet local housing needs.”
Leaders in the movement include California, which enacted the Affordable Housing on Faith and Higher Educations Lands Act in 2023. Florida and New York have since enacted laws making it easier to construct affordable housing on property owned by religious groups.
“Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., introduced the YIGBY Act at the federal level to provide technical assistance and grants for faith-based organizations, institutions of higher education and local governments to develop affordable rental housing,” the report says.
White urged faith leaders to take stock of unused or under-used facilities and land to determine if those spaces can be used to help struggling families find homes. “We are in a time in our country when the need for affordable housing, regardless of region or the type of community, is immense.”
And it’s important to consider that religious groups may benefit from these developments as much as struggling families will, the report adds.
“Churches and houses of worship are similarly seeing the sands shifting within their congregations and communities. In recent decades, not only has attendance at houses of worship declined, (faith-based organizations) have been left with decaying buildings that continue to suffer from disrepair due to a lack of funds and declining memberships.”
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