The Affordable Housing and Shelter Built on Faith Land project aims to provide a baseline number of how many affordable housing developments have been built on faith land, where they have been built, and what the projects look like.

The database is inclusive of all houses of worship. The purpose of this database and the report is to provide examples, information, knowledge and inspiration to pastoral leaders, congregation members, policymakers, researchers, housing advocates and professionals, and anyone else interested in affordable housing and shelters built on faith land.

We focus on development projects where congregation members or judicatory bodies were instrumental in affordable housing or shelters being constructed. Many of these new affordable housing developments and shelters have no religious affiliation but all of these projects have been built on land that was leased, sold or donated by a house of worship or a judicatory body such as a Diocese.

The database does not include housing that is built by congregations away from property that has or once had religious buildings.We define affordable housing broadly to include any type or form of housing that is below market-rate that community members can afford to live for any period of time. This includes transitional housing, tiny houses, duplexes and triplexes, large multi-family developments and any other kind of housing built on religious land. We have also included shelters in our database because it is important to share how houses of worship are used for refuge and some congregations are using their land specifically to build shelter space. We include different types of land ownership structures, sizes of projects, and financing in the database and report.

This project is funded by The Duke Endowment and Trinity Church Wall Street.

Resources

Books

• Ecologies of Faith in New York City: The Evolution of Religious Institutions
• Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition