Since The District Church opened its doors in 2010, it has sought the welfare of the city.

In the context of the District of Columbia, one clear and pressing need is adequate affordable housing, so it has been on the heart of The District Church since its origin, to directly address affordable housing gaps in the city. The question was always how.

As a multicultural church with Sunday services in Columbia Heights, the church felt a strong call to be part of the solution to the growing housing crisis, to fill existing gaps and lend support to existing efforts to fight housing insecurity in the District. Not wanting to duplicate services or draw resources away from existing affordable housing endeavors, The District Church embarked on a period of research and discernment to answer the question: What role are we called to play?

A working group in the church began interviewing dozens of organizations and individuals across the District in pursuit of identifying the community’s needs and the ways in which the church’s resources could be utilized to meet the needs. They prayed, researched, listened, and learned. During that time, a vision for a justice housing initiative was born: one that could honor the long history of faith-based housing efforts as well as bring fresh resources and ideas to the fight.

In November of 2017, during a sermon series discussing TDC’s core values—worship, community, and justice—Pastor Aaron Graham formally introduced Just Homes to the wider District Church community.