D.C. Aims To Help More Churches Build Housing On Underutilized Land

The D.C. government and nonprofit partner Enterprise Community Partners are seeking faith-based institutions with underutilized land to enter into a program designed to help them create new affordable housing.

The call, part of Mayor Muriel Bowser's push to build 36,000 homes by 2025, comes after Enterprise was selected in March to lead the Faith-Based Development Initiative, which has worked with 29 houses of worship, per a release Wednesday.

"We know that there are faith-based partners out there who see the need for safe and affordable housing and they want to help,” Bowser said in a release. “We’re simplifying the process and making it easier for faith partners to get the guidance and resources they need to build housing in DC.”

The technical assistance program administered by Enterprise would assist with development consulting, organizational assessments, zoning application assistance and peer-to-peer learning sessions, according to the District's announcement of the partnership in March. Enterprise also committed to a one-to-one match with the District in pre-development grants of up to $70K.

The Bowser administration has allocated $1M toward the program, a Department of Housing and Community Development spokesperson told Bisnow.

The Office of Planning has also worked to help faith-based organizations address zoning issues that can stand in the way of adding housing, the spokesperson said. In last year's Comprehensive Plan, it changed the Future Land Use Map designation of 13 faith-based properties to allow for housing, and it has worked with nine religious institutions on efforts to rezone their properties.

Officials hope as the projects going through the program move forward, other houses of worship will see their success and look to do the same.

"We have several successful examples of houses of worship contributing to the city’s affordable housing over the years," D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development interim Director Drew Hubbard said in Wednesday's release. "With technical assistance, capital, and peer-to-peer exchanges, we know several more examples will be on the horizon." 

Efforts to fold houses of worship into the fight to address a housing shortage in the District have steadily increased over the course of more than a year. There are roughly 450 vacant parcels owned by faith-based institutions that could go toward affordable housing development, according to an Urban Institute statistic cited by DMPED.

In recent years, at least 10 such projects totaling more than 1,200 units have broken ground or delivered in the District. DMPED estimates the District could add anywhere from 6,000 to 29,000 new housing units by following the church-developer partnership model on more parcels.

But such projects aren't easy. Developers have cited issues with zoning density and permitting as a confounding variable in the development of land owned by houses of worship.

MRP Realty took roughly six years to move forward on a joint development project that it agreed to pursue with the Bethlehem Baptist Church near the Anacostia Metro station.

Churches are often in "land-rich, cash-poor situations, but [are] also mission-driven" and may be inclined to build senior or affordable housing if they receive help working through the challenges, MRP principal Matt Robinson said at a Bisnow event in July.

"There seems to be a nexus to create a lot that could be a big relief valve for affordable housing," Robinson said. "There’s got to be ways to help unlock some of that potential."