Thank you for considering your church’s property for the development of affordable housing, clergy housing, or a ministry to serve those in need. Below are a number of resources to help you on each step of your journey.
Mission Real Estate Resources
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Churches interested in using their property for mission are encouraged to meet with members of the Diocesan Mission Real Estate Committee to understand the Diocesan’s missional approach to real estate development and provide information on the congregation’s priorities and interest in Diocesan support. The rector or vicar, warden, and chair of mission and outreach should participate in this meeting.
- Mission Real Estate Getting Started Presentation
- Episcopal Diocese of San Diego Mission Real Estate Process (High Level)
- Trinity Wall Street Mission Real Estate Development Planning Tool (Detailed)
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The first phase of the process encourages a congregation’s leadership and members to explore their aspirations for mission stewardship of their real estate, as well as the concerns and hopes of the surrounding community. Churches can gather data and stories through listening sessions, surveys, church records, demographic studies, information interviews, and by being an active presence in neighborhood activities. At the end of this phase, the church will have a list of priorities identified by the congregation and community.
- Dream Phase Overview: Guiding Questions, Suggested Team Members, and Deliverables
- Neighborhood Planning Playbook (2015): Churches can use this resource from Housing New York to understand ways communities and agencies can work together to contribute to creating just, equitable, inclusive, and prosperous communities.
- The Planner’s Playbook (2019): This resource from ChangeLab Solutions outlines critical steps in the planning process and provides insight on why and how policymakers and community planners are taking concrete steps to build equity into planning processes.
- Bricks and Mortals: Community Engagement (ND): This resource discusses the importance of understanding the wider community’s wants and needs when congregations embark on new projects to serve the community and describes different ways to engage the community.
- Community Engagement Public Participation Playbook (2020): This playbook provides key considerations and practical guidance on how to engage the public in decision-making processes that affect their communities.
- Community Voice and Power Sharing Guide (2021): This Urban Institute guidebook covers different topics to aid those in community-engaged work with partnership building, community advisory boards, participatory approaches to surveys, and youth engagement.
Housing Development
- Policy Changes Could Unlock Significant New Housing Potential for Faith-Based Organizations (2020): This policy brief highlights the potential for faith-based organizations to support new housing development, as well as policy actions that would make it easier to build.
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In the discernment phase, a congregation researches the list of priorities to identify those that are most feasible for the congregation. This includes an internal inventory of its assets for
the different projects that were identified, including congregational enthusiasm, experts and professionals within and known to the congregation, available land and funding, and resource development capacity. The congregation may want to consider conducting an organizational capacity assessment. At the end of this phase, the congregation will have narrowed the priority list to the two or three potential uses of their available real estate.
- Discern Phase Overview: Guiding Questions, Suggested Team Members, and Deliverables
- Trinity Wall Street Feasibility Study Deliverables: This resource summarizes the core components of a feasibility study: real estate market assessment, site analysis, development advisory recommendations, and financial analysis.
Housing Development
- What Is Affordable Housing? (Current): This resource from Enterprise Community Partners defines affordable housing and provides an overview of common sources of funding, the role of state and local housing programs, key stakeholders, and answers other questions about the role of affordable housing in our communities.
- Leveraging Property Owned by Faith-Based Organizations to Create Affordable Homes and Public Benefit (2020): This resource created by Enterprise Community Partners was developed to help both faith-based organizations and other stakeholders understand what it takes to successfully leverage faith institutions real estate for homes and the different paths to implement the solution.
- Affordable Housing Development for Newer Nonprofits (2022): This webinar recording from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides nonprofits interested in housing development with information about the process, timeline, potential challenges, and funding sources.
- Breaking Ground: A Beginner’s Guide for Nonprofit Developers (2000): This guide includes a list of some of the roles organizations, such as churches, can play in affordable housing development.
- Local Housing Plan Download Tool (Current): Local housing plans, called Housing Elements, provide information about how each California community plans to accommodate new homes to support projected population and job growth. Select the plan for your county and city to learn about your community’s housing needs and identify affordable housing development opportunities that align with local plans.
- Housing Opportunity Maps (2023) and Fair Housing Mapping Resources: The state commissioned these maps to show whether sites are in locations that support economic, educational, and health outcomes for low-income families and break historic patterns of segregation. The information is used in scoring development projects that apply for state funding.
- Bohler Expedited Due Diligence Checklist (ND): This brief checklist provides a summary of the types of due diligence a developer would perform to determine project feasibility.
- Streamlined Affordable Development (Current): Find out if developers can use a streamlined development approval process for projects based on percentage of affordable units.
- Enterprise Community Partners Faith-Based Development Initiative Organizational Assessment (ND): Congregations interested in creating housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents can use this tool to conduct an organizational assessment that includes answering questions to discern the potential for a joint venture with a development partner.
Economic Development
- A Playbook for Equitable Economic Development: This resource from the International Economic Development Council provides best practices and guidance on how organizations involved in economic development can integrate racial equity into their practice.
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This is where the congregation decides to proceed with a specific project that fulfills neighborhood needs and desires and is believed to be sustainable for the congregation. At the end of this phase, the congregation will have a written scope of work that articulates its vision and desired long-term outcome, scope of work, project leadership, available financial and real estate resources, and plan for sustainability that matches the gifts and needs of both the congregation and the surrounding community.
- Decide Phase Overview: Guiding Questions, Suggested Team Members, and Deliverables
- Trinity Wall Street Scope of Work for an Owner’s Representative: This document outlines how an owner’s representative acts on behalf of the owner to advance a real estate project through the preparation, pre-development, development, and construction phase.
- Trinity Wall Street Request for Proposals Outline: Churches can use this outline to summarize project objectives and requirements when soliciting competitive bids for a real estate development project.
Housing Development
- Breaking Ground: A Beginner’s Guide for Nonprofit Developers (2000): This guide provides community-based organizations interested in becoming affordable housing developers with information about planning, financing, and developing affordable housing.
- Ground Leases Key Terms and Considerations (2021): Brief definitions and information on what to look for in a ground lease.
- Joint Venture Guidebook for Developing Affordable and Supportive Housing Development (2018): This resource provides case studies of joint venture partnerships, which are collaborative legal structures that can be formed between multiple stakeholders to develop affordable housing.
- Sample Requests for Qualifications: Samples of documents a church would send to establish a pool of developers that would be invited to submit a full proposal.
- Sample Requests for Proposals: Samples of documents a church would send to developers as part of a competitive bidding process to determine which developer would be the best fit for the proposed project.
Sample Trinity Wall Street Letter of Intent (2021): An example of the information required to apply for Trinity Wall Street pre-development grant funds.
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In the development phase, the congregation facilitates the completion of its real estate project in a manner that keeps the congregation and surrounding community informed and involved in ensuring that the project contributes to their mutual well-being. Depending on the scope of the project, the congregation may work with external partners to conduct due diligence on the development concept, engage in a church and community-led design process, address any unresolved issues, and act as a champion for the project in the Community.
- Develop Phase Overview: Guiding Questions, Suggested Team Members, and Deliverables
Housing Development
- NAHB Land Development Checklist (2019): This in-depth checklist is intended for affordable housing developers and public officials but provides information on the process developers go through to evaluate a site’s potential, obtain development approvals, and prepare the lot for development.
- Enterprise Community Partners CDFI: The Enterprise Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) website provides information about its flexible loans to build and preserve homes.
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Once the project is developed, the congregation has a role in assessing the impact of its mission investment and engages in ongoing collaboration with its partners to fulfill that long-term vision. This includes serving as a champion for development and operating partners in areas such as leasing, property management, capital replacement, economic impact, and sustainability.
- Deliver Phase Overview: Guiding Questions, Suggested Team Members, and Deliverables
- A Glossary of Capital Market Terms for Non-Finance Professionals: This glossary introduces common credit terms and concepts and provides a framework for understanding the trends that drive the growth of global capital markets.
- How to Read a Financial Report: This guide is intended to help readers understand the components of a financial report and how to read and analyze the data.
- Introduction to Balance Sheets: This short video explains assets, liabilities, and owner’s equity using the example of buying a home.
- More on Balance Sheets and Equity: This video explains what happens to equity when the value of the assets increase or decrease.
Housing Development
- Occupancy and Ongoing Operations: This resource from Enterprise Community Partners covers the critical role and process of asset management throughout the life stages of real estate development, as well as performance indicators.
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- St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (Seattle) Ballard Redevelopment Video (2023): This 5-minute video showcases the church’s process for discerning how to create affordable homes for families while providing for the long-term financial stability of the church and its ministries. More information is available at the St. Luke’s Seattle website.
- St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (Seattle) Parish Profile (ND): A document summarizing the neighborhood context, parcel size, zoning, location, missional focus, project overview, estimated budget, and photos.
- What Faith Groups are Doing to Help with the Housing Crisis (2022): This Deseret News article highlights how faith-based organizations are responding to rapidly rising housing prices, including efforts to build affordable homes on excess church property.
- Bricks and Mortals Housing Case Studies: This website features case studies of faith-based organizations involved in affordable housing development.
- California Affordable Housing Developments Receiving Tax Credits 1990-2022: A database of affordable housing projects that have received Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) since 1990, organized by county. Data includes project location, number of units, affordability levels, developer and property manager contact information, and federal and state tax credit awards.
- 2022 County of San Diego Affordable Housing Projects Video: Short video showcasing 7 County-funded affordable housing developments that held grand openings in 2022, plus 4 projects that broke ground and 1 renovation.
- County Awards $29 Million for Affordable, Supportive Housing: List of nine projects totaling more than 600 units of affordable housing and supportive housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness.
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Church Buildings and Halls Case Studies: Fourteen case studies on how churches have realized the potential of their buildings to support mission and ministry.
