Affordable Housing on Religious Land

Affordable housing and homelessness

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Affordable housing is a critical need that many congregations are eager to meet. In 2024, an estimated 75,312 people experienced homelessness in LA County. The LA Public Health Dept. found 51% of households cost-burdened, spending 30% or more of their incomes on housing, 27.5% severely cost-burdened, paying 50% of their income on housing. BIPOC are disproportionately affected. Blacks comprise 8% of the county's population but represent 34% of those unhoused. NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) attitudes and restrictive zoning limit density and stifle development. Many congregations that struggle with large sites and dwindling membership see affordable housing as a better use of their land in line with their mission to serve the community. This trend, called Yes in God’s Back Yard, could provide thousands of affordable homes in LA County where 185,000+ affordable homes are needed for low and very low-income residents by 2029, in addition to 12,000+ homes that were destroyed by wildfires.

Since we began our Congregational Land Team in 2019, we have developed a 6-step process: 1. Educational cohort 2. Feasibility study 3. Discernment 4. Request for Proposal 5. Development Agreement, and 6. Owner Representation. These steps equip congregations to partner with an affordable housing developer to maximize the highest potential of units on their site. 60+ congregations have taken part in our cohorts, and 9 have signed contacts to continue to the next steps, creating the potential of 1000+ affordable units. We’ve also conducted 7 Housing Justice Institutes in cities in LA County, resulting in teams that support affordable housing. We persuaded Pasadena and other cities to pass a religious overlay zone in 2021 that led to passage of SB 4 in 2023, allowing congregations to build affordable housing by-right statewide, potentially unlocking 171,000+ acres, including “high opportunity” residential areas, which spreads affordable housing citywide, thereby furthering fair housing. Our forums educate the public on topics like environment and housing, dispelling myths about homelessness and affordable housing, and the community benefits of affordable housing. In 2025 we hosted a forum on our 6-step process for congregations with the SGG/LA County Consortium. In 2026 we anticipate working with churches in S. Central LA interested in offering a Housing Justice Institute to create a Housing Justice Team.

LA County's affordable housing crisis will be eased, with the potential of hundreds of affordable homes built on religious land, spread throughout cities, not concentrated in low-income areas. Many churches located in “high opportunity” residential neighborhoods now have an opportunity to build affordable housing, thanks to SB 4. This will contribute to promote racial justice through greater integration. Due to dwindling membership, thousands of churches are closing each year nationwide. Struggling churches are seeking guidance on how to be good stewards and utilize their property for the public good, such as affordable housing. Our team members Dr. Jill Shook, Andre White and Phil Burns wrote a chapter Gone for Good?: Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition (2024), describing how our model is the best practice for churches in transition. Instead of seeing closed congregations, LA County will see transformed congregational land with beautiful affordable housing.