Case Study: The Spire

Church: Episcopal Church of the Resurrection
Neighborhood: Alexandria, VA
Development: 113 of affordable housing, including many family-sized units

In 2012, the rector of Alexandria’s Episcopal Church of the Resurrection (ECR) retired. During the search for a new rector, the church began to wonder whether any rector would want to come to their parish, which was experiencing a declining attendance and diminishing finances. This triggered a re-visioning process, where the church came up with a wealth of ideas for filling their financial gaps and revitalizing their community. One idea: building housing as a possible income stream and a catalyst to revive the congregation.

After talking with other churches who had gone through similar struggles and interviewing a variety of developers, ECR came up with a plan to tear down their current church building, build a smaller sanctuary, and construct over 100 units of affordable housing around the new church. This plan had the dual benefit of both establishing a revenue stream for the church and providing a service to the community.

ECR decided to lease portion of their property to AHC Inc, one of the largest affordable housing developers in Northern Virginia, in order to develop the housing complex. With the revenue from this 99-year land lease, ECR is paying for its new church building. They worked with lawyers to include language in the agreement that gives ECR influence over the vision and mission of the housing development.

Though the project has faced challenges, the congregation’s faith has sustained them. “One thing after another has come our way, and I firmly believe it’s God taking care of us,” says project lead, Betsy Faga. “God just took care of us. It’s unbelievable.”

The project is expected to open in 2021.

Case Study: The Beacon Center

Church: Emory Fellowship
Neighborhood: Brightwood, D.C.
Development: 99 units of affordable housing along with a food pantry, cafe, job training programs, and a small business development space

Pastor Joe Daniels of Emory Fellowship first had the vision for housing development in 1995, when he looked across the street from his church and envisioned an entire block of new homes for his most vulnerable neighbors. The church began serving food to people experiencing homelessness, then began offering temporary emergency shelter. Slowly that shelter expanded to 30 day transitional housing, then 60, then 90. Soon, Pastor Daniels and his congregants realized permanent solutions were needed and they began to work to construct new, permanent, affordable housing. Because Emory’s congregants had relationships with these homeless families, they were able to recognize the serious need for housing in the community, and they were on board with embarking on a larger development project.

Emory Fellowship partnered with a mission-driven developer The Community Builders to design and develop a 99-unit apartment building using land surrounding the historic church. They were also able to renovate their church in the process.

As a co-developer, Emory was able to retain both influence over the project and ownership of the land and building. They were able to influence the vision of the project, which includes a locally owned cafe that provides job training for returning citizens, a food pantry, an immigration clinic, and space for future enterprises to grow and develop, in addition to the almost 100 units of affordable housing.

There were challenges: the denominational approval process, historic preservation, and community opposition. But each step of the way, the church bathed the process in prayer and partners came along to help clear hurdles.

This new community epitomizes the concept of justice housing. It officially opened in March of 2019.

Case Study: House of Lebanon

Church: Mount Lebanon Baptist
Neighborhood: Truxton Circle, D.C.
Development: 82 units for seniors age 55+ with large community space

Pastor Lionel Edmonds of Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church has always believed the church should provide for its immediate community and serve as an anchor institution in its neighborhood. However, when he looked around his church’s neighborhood of Truxton Circle, he realized the church was full of people who couldn’t afford to live in the neighborhood anymore. His solution: increase the stock of affordable housing to members of the community.

Mt. Lebanon had no space on their property to build anything. But, soon after Pastor Edmonds first had the idea to get involved in housing, an old school building near the church went up for sale. Pastor Edmonds realized bidding developers were much more likely to get approval to develop if they had community buy-in, so he started talking to those bidding to hear what their plans were for the space. He built a relationship with Mission First, a non-profit developer with experience in affordable housing development, and together they successfully bid on the property.

Mt. Lebanon entered into a joint venture partnership with Mission First. Together, they created House of Lebanon, which opened in 2015, providing 82 new homes for low-income seniors. As an active partner in the development process, Mt Lebanon CDC was able to “keep an eye” on the developer and make sure the vision didn’t get lost. Since this project, Mission First and Mt Lebanon have been exploring other development projects for partnership.