Putting Faith in Affordable Housing

Activists, Entrepreneurial Pastors Push Renewal of D.C. Churches' Efforts

Ministers Eugene and Patrice Sheppard of Living Word Church visit one of the properties they purchased for affordable housing in Washington Highlands. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)

Nearly three decades after Washington area faith leaders founded a movement for affordable housing, there is a new push -- particularly in the District -- to revive the effort and get the clergy to see housing as an urgent mission field.

Longtime advocates say houses of worship should be obvious allies because of the desperate need in the city, and for another reason: their land. Churches in particular own tens of millions of dollars in vacant properties in Washington. Some lots were donated by congregants; others were purchased methodically, for investment or for developing housing, among other reasons.

In the past year, the regional office of Enterprise Community Partners, one of the nation's largest affordable housing groups, has turned its focus to lobbying houses of worship, said David Bowers, director of the D.C. area branch. The group has had workshops for dozens of members of the clergy on using tax credits, accessing private money and crystallizing goals. The project has launched development of 235 units, including a rental apartment project in Northeast Washington and condominiums in Southwest. By the end of 2008, it plans to have helped clergy create 450 units of affordable housing.

And the Washington Interfaith Network, a group of 50 congregations that works on urban issues, has had congregants take monthly walks in every city quadrant to check out abandoned buildings and vacant properties in search of potential housing sites. The group has identified 20 to 25 sites, mostly in wards 4 through 8, and is working with the city to push along development, said the Rev. Lionel Edmonds, a co-chairman.

The effort has gained fuel from research at Georgetown University showing that in Ward 8 alone, about 60 churches own dozens of empty lots worth tens of millions.

The renewed interest accompanies what some call a spiritual crisis in affordable housing. It is particularly pronounced in Washington, where available land is rare and prices have been booming.

"It just makes good sense in a gentrifying city to try and be the conduit to people owning homes who might be marginalized. Our motive is different. Sure, we'll make some profit and get income stream, but it's not our main motive," the Rev. William H. Bennett II said. He spoke as he walked down 44th Street NE, gesturing to the empty, grassy squares and small homes that line the side street, most of which Bennett's church and community development corporation now own. His little Good Success Church in Northeast Washington has, since 2001, bought 30 lots worth $3.5 million. He plans housing, a restaurant and a social service center.

Yet despite the rising involvement of houses of worship with development, advocates and members of the clergy say the landscape has changed in some discouraging ways: Many city church congregants live in the suburbs and don't see city housing as a priority; federal housing support has dramatically diminished; and city land has become so pricey that congregations have trouble agreeing on real estate decisions.

Until the 1980s, the federal government was a major funder of affordable housing and looked to churches as partners. Among the organizations launched in the 1970s and 1980s were Enterprise, started by legendary Columbia developer James Rouse, who called affordable housing "mission work"; Jubilee Housing, started by Church of the Saviour in Adams Morgan; and Victory Housing, part of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.

Churches were the driving force in rebuilding affordable housing in the District after the 1968 riots. The United House of Prayer built hundreds of apartments in the Shaw neighborhood, as All Souls' Unitarian Church did on upper 14th Street NW and the Northeast Ministries Group did on H Street NE.

But since the 1980s, many advocates and housing experts say, faith-based housing groups have struggled to restructure after the withdrawal of most federal programs. And in the meantime, many basic details have changed. Thirty years ago, the movement was driven by extreme poverty, homes ruined by rioting and racial discrimination among lenders. Today, even middle-class families are shut out because of land prices. The culture of faith leaders has changed, too.

"To compare it to 20-plus years ago, no one today is saying, 'We don't need to make a profit because this is God's land and we are stewards, we don't need to make a penny.' I don't think there is a lot of that going on," said Dominic Moulden, a longtime housing advocate from the faith community.