Turn Congregational Houses Into Affordable Homes
Christ Episcopal Church is in an affluent residential neighborhood along the main artery connecting the suburbs with uptown Charlotte. Its clergy preach that proximity is important, an especially important message for middle- and upper-income congregations that could easily become insulated from poverty and homelessness.
For one night each month over the past twenty years, Christ Church has opened its doors to those experiencing homelessness as part of “Room in the Inn,” a local winter shelter program. Parishioners prepare dinner, set up cots, stay overnight, and serve breakfast, truly proximate to those who have no place else to sleep. As the parable goes, these parishioners have dedicated lifeguards for those drowning in the river of homelessness.
Sacrificing Rental Income
Several years ago, a group of parishioners walked into the rector’s office and insisted that the church could do more. Their proposal was to leverage part of an upcoming capital campaign to purchase four properties adjacent to the church – expensive real estate with stately houses. Christ Church proceeded to launch a $9.5 million capital campaign that included the acquisition of these properties along with $2.5 million for local outreach grants and $1 million for innovative programming. The church then spent several hundred thousand dollars renovating two of the houses – which were already duplexes -- yielding four 1600-2100 square-foot homes. From the street, the houses look like single-family homes.
For the past seven years, these four units have been rented to Charlotte Family Housing, a non-profit agency that empowers families to move from homelessness to self-sufficiency. The agency pays the church $1/year for each unit, and charges each family 30% of their monthly income in rent, the national standard for affordability. The rental income is plowed back into the units for maintenance, and the church remains responsible for capital repairs.
Charlotte Family Housing provides caseworker support to address the barriers that led the families to become homeless and to enable them to increase their earnings and pay their own rent without subsidy in market-rate housing after two years. Nine out of ten families graduating from Charlotte Family Housing’s program remain self-sufficient for at least two years after support and subsidies have ended, sustainably transitioning from homelessness to self-sufficiency.
Living Faith with Proximity at Christ Church
Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, inspired both congregants and clergy when he spoke at Christ Church in 2016. For many it was powerful, for others it was life-changing. Nearly all the challenges faced by a community would benefit from Bryan’s four-step approach to striving for justice: staying hopeful, changing the narratives that create policy problems, staying proximate to the issue, and being willing to do uncomfortable things. Christ Church continues to lean into Stevenson’s four tenets by offering transformational classes; arranging pilgrimages to Washington, D.C., Montgomery, and Selma; conducting racial equity trainings; and financially supporting local agencies committed to changing lives.
Addressing homelessness is an integral part of Christ Church’s mission. Changing lives is at the heart of the gospel and evident in nearly every miracle, teaching, and conversation Jesus had with his followers. Followers of Jesus are called to serve others, to care for the marginalized, and to meet people where they are - even if that is on the streets.
The early Christians understood the importance of homes, because it was in the home where the earliest believers shared the good news of Christ with one another. A home provided the ideal place to gather, share meals, and to build community. Homes also provided refuge and a safe place for the early Christians as they sought to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
Today churches across the country provide a welcoming place to learn about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but the importance of the home remains just as critical. Research has proved affordable and sustainable housing creates physically, mentally, and emotionally healthier adults, youth, and children. In other words, to help provide housing is to do as Jesus did – to care for the whole person.
Hard-to-House Tenants
Christ Church is not alone in choosing to use congregational homes to address the affordable housing shortage. Congregation Har HaShem, a Reform synagogue in Colorado, has a long history of providing temporary shelter to the homeless in its community. Like Christ Church, Har HaShem also has two houses on its property, but its partnership includes not only a non-profit agency but also a commercial property manager, with the intent to demonstrate a viable affordable housing model to for-profit landlords in Boulder.
For more than a decade, Har HaShem had opened its doors to those experiencing homelessness as an overflow winter shelter, routinely serving 50 people each week and sometimes surging past 100 – becoming one of the largest shelters in the area. In addition, up to 30 people each night were welcome to camp on the synagogue grounds in other months, a critical resource because of Boulder’s no-camping ordinance on public property. But the congregation wanted to connect with more meaning -- and more impact -- on the population it had been serving.
Bridge House, the agency operating the ongoing homeless shelter, also operates a Ready to Work program for clients with histories of substance abuse, incarceration, and/or mental health issues, seeking to transition them into market rate housing. In an already tight rental market, these clients have difficulty finding landlords willing to rent to them.
Leasing the two synagogue houses to Bridge House instead of to local college students provided difficult-to-find housing for the clients. Boulder Property Management manages the houses for Har HaShem, preparing the tenants for the responsibilities of market leases and relieving synagogue maintenance staff from also tending to the houses. Bridge House subsidizes the leases, and the synagogue benefits from Bridge House rules for the new tenants who – unlike the college students – agree to limited visitors, no alcohol, and no marijuana (legal in Colorado). The synagogue pays for repairs to the houses and for the fee to the management company.
Pursuing Justice at Congregation Har HaShem
The vision articulated at Congregation Har HaShem is to create meaning in its congregants’ lives through Jewish practice. The synagogue’s vision statement explains, “We work to make the world more just,” citing the text from Deuteronomy “tzedek, tzedek tirdof - justice, justice shall you pursue.”
Alan Halpern, executive director at Congregation Har HaShem, frames the model with Bridge House and Boulder Property Management in terms of its potential to impact housing justice in the community. He says, “We are hoping to demonstrate that existing housing stock can be subsidized, that people who experienced homelessness on the streets of our city can be good tenants, and that we can do this without millions of dollars of construction, which -- by the way -- still requires a subsidy.”
There is little ongoing involvement between synagogue volunteers and the tenants because of Bridge House’s emphasis on building independence. The temple men’s club is partnering with two local churches to help furnish apartments for other graduates of Bridge House’s Ready to Work program, continuing the social action work that is traditional for Congregation Har HaShem (and many others). But Halpern points out the difficulty of working for justice, saying, “Sustained advocacy is harder to do than collection and education.”
On-Site Housing: A Resource Across Faiths
Whether your church is inspired by the teachings of Jesus or your synagogue is moved by the Jewish responsibility to pursue justice, houses on congregational land provide an opportunity for congregants to live their faith using the on-site resources of their religious institutions.
Christ Church focuses on families who experience homelessness; Congregation Har HaShem addresses hard-to-house singles. Both congregations utilize the expertise of outside agencies to manage the social work needs of their tenants. And both congregations use an intermediary to handle the transactional demands of property management. Both congregations began their journey to creating affordable housing through the more traditional volunteer activity of using a house of worship as an emergency shelter.
Draft Your Plan
The Place
Is there a place with a funding stream that could create an endowment or directly fund rental subsidies? Consider your city, county, United Way, or community foundation, along with the private sector.
Is there a place with suitable infrastructure for dispensing grants to agencies and evaluating outcomes?
The People
Are you targeting affordable housing renters who need special services or those who simply need housing that fits within their budget?
Consider the mission relevance of low-income seniors, those recently released from prison, LGBTQ young adults, moms with multiple evictions, refugees, people with disabilities, or a specific income level group – all people with barriers to affordable and stable housing.
Is there a process to connect tenants to services to enable them to increase their income over time?
The Partners
Are there homeless shelters or other agencies already using rental subsidies to move people from homelessness to homes?
How will communication channels work between the agencies and the granting organization? Is there a mechanism for sharing best practices?
Who is responsible for finding willing landlords? How will security deposits be managed?
The Plan
Who will choose the recipients and using what criteria?
How will you track clients after support ends?
Do you need an RFP process to select agencies?
What resources are available to social workers to help clients increase income, secure reliable childcare, and dependable transportation, and cope with mental and physical health issues?
What caseload are social workers expected to carry?
Judy Seldin-Cohen is a volunteer organizer on housing issues at the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice at Queens University of Charlotte, and she serves as the board chair for A Way Home, a $20 million public-private housing endowment. She is also the co-author of the recently published book Recharging Judaism: How Civic Engagement Is Good for Synagogues, Jews, & America.
The Reverend Matt Holcombe is Associate Rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he provides clergy support for spiritual growth and adult formation. He is committed to visioning, designing, and facilitating unique learning opportunities to equip and empower people to grow spiritually through relationships with God, neighbor, world, and self.