Faith-Based Participation in Housing: A Perspective
By Tim Iglesias, Professor of Law, University of San Francisco School of Law (a former Jesuit of the California Province of the Society of Jesus who has worked in and studies affordable housing development)
Sometimes it's useful to get perspective on one's work. Perspective can re-energize, encourage critical reflection, and aid strategic planning. Studies of similar work over time and in other places provide one source of perspective. A study sponsored by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University published "Faith-Based Participation in Housing: A Literature Review (2005) (available at: http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/showdoc.html?id=10625) offers an excellent opportunity for groups involved in affordable housing issues. The objective of this study was to shed light on the roles and impacts of faith-based organizations on America's chronic affordable housing deficit. The article analyzed 65 empirical studies about faith-based housing work. In this article I will summarize some of the study's findings and share some reflections on the study.
You Are Not Alone
Participation in affordable housing efforts is a longstanding and ecumenical work in faith communities. The work has been performed by both religious communities and lay organizations within parishes. For example, the Sisters of Charity created the McAuley Institute, a major technical assistance provider to affordable housing organizations [1]. Some religious orders have donated land or provided land at below market rates for affordable housing development. An estimated 18% of faith congregations (including Catholic parishes) participate in some type of housing program [2].
Religious groups' efforts concentrate in serving the most needy. About one third of all emergency and temporary shelters are church-affiliated [3]. Almost 40% of congregations provide housing or shelter programs for homeless people [4]. And religious groups accounted for almost half of the sponsors for HUD's Section 202 program that provides supportive housing for the elderly [5].
While members of faith communities may often need affordable housing themselves, the evidence shows that faith-based housing groups have not just served their own. Only 7% of programs served "mostly" member of their own congregations while 54% served residents in the immediate neighborhood, and 32% served residents of the city at-large [6].
Not only has the work been ecumenical, it has extended to partnerships with government at all levels and across party lines. For example, President George W. Bush encouraged "faith-based initiatives" including in affordable housing, and President Barack Obama has continued on that path.
Many Gifts and Many Paths
Faith-based groups have used a wide variety of strategies and performed both direct and indirect roles in meeting our brothers' and sisters' housing needs. Groups have assisted in the development of rental and homeownership opportunities for families as well as housing for persons with special needs (e.g. people with disabilities and homeless people).
Direct roles include the actual physical development of affordable housing through a variety of organizational structures, including community development organizations (CDOs). About 14% of the nation's CDOs are faith-based organizations, and these have helped develop at least 355,000 affordable housing units [7]. Habitat for Humanity, an ecumenical Christian housing ministry, is a well-recognized example with 1,400 local affiliates in the U.S. [8] Supplying volunteers to Habitat is a common form of participation for faith-based organizations. There is a long and impressive tradition of faith-based CBOs in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Mercy Housing, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, and the Ecumenical Association for Housing.
Indirect roles include conducting advocacy, providing training, and supplying other services related to meeting a community's housing needs. Building public support for affordable housing development has been an important role. Other key roles include delivering services to affordable housing residents (e.g. tutoring, computer classes, money management skills), donating money and in-kind goods, and supplying volunteers to perform particular tasks. Some groups provide emergency housing payment assistance for congregation members who are one paycheck away from housing problems. Other organizations pursue broader community-building activities to ensure that affordable housing needs are not neglected in a community.
Making a Difference
The studies demonstrate that faith-based organizations' work in the arena of affordable housing has been both important and-when properly focused-effective. Part of their success comes from the advantages they bring to the effort. For example, faith-based groups are often more in touch with the needs of their community than others because of their long histories there. To the degree that the worshiping community reflects the broader community and participants are offered an opportunity to speak their needs, the dialogue about affordable housing is well-grounded and enriched.
Other advantages abound. Church communities often have access to skilled volunteers and other resources. Usually they have established a good reputation in the larger community and earned good will. They often can provide thoughtful leadership and good collaborators to community organizations performing the work. Using their "good offices" and church facilities, they can be conveners of people of good will to help generate and sustain partnerships that are often the life-blood of community organizations. Finally, they can often be successful in creating collaboration across denominations and other critical constituencies, such as businesses.
To be effective, each organization needs to discern its appropriate roles in its specific context, taking into account local needs, its members' interests, the resources available to it, and other relevant factors. For example, in the current fiscally challenging situation, creating a new CBO is probably not an appropriate path for most congregations. However, as this article suggests, there are many useful ways to make significant contributions. Experience shows that commitments should be based upon a realistic self-assessment and a clear set of goals.
What Does It Mean?
The study presents both encouragement and challenges to congregations involved in affordable housing. In one sense, it is not surprising that Catholic parishes are so deeply involved in housing the needy. While Matthew 25:31-46 doesn't mention housing the poor directly, it is certainly implied. And, as the United States Catholic Conference has stated: "The Church has traditionally viewed housing, not as a commodity, but as a basic human right. This conviction is grounded in our view of the human person and the responsibility of society to protect the life and dignity of every person by providing the conditions where human life and human dignity are not undermined, but enhanced." [9]
Still, housing development is very complex, and affordable housing development even moreso. The starting point is becoming aware of the needs--both identifying who needs affordable housing and the gaps or obstacles in the current situation that prevent those needs from being met. For example, the foreclosure crisis presents a particular challenge to some communities, but also a potential opportunity. Each community has its own history, its challenges, and its opportunities. This fact highlights the need for careful and informed discernment by local groups.
Each community has its own history, its challenges, and its opportunities. This fact highlights the need for careful and informed discernment by local groups.
/ Footnotes
1. Wright, Elliot, ed. 1999. An Annotated Bibliography for Faith-Based Community Economic Development. Washington, D.C.: National Congress for Community Economic Development.
2. Chaves, Mark. 1999. "Congregations' Social Service Activities." Charting Civil Society, No. 6. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute.
3. Briggs, Xavier de Souza. 2004. "Faith and Mortar: Religious Organizations and Affordable Housing Strategy in Urban America." In Building the Organizations that Build Communities, Anglin, Roland, ed. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
4. Hodgkinson, Virginia, et al. 1993. From Belief to Commitment: The Community Service Activities and Finances of Religious Congregations in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Independent Sector.
5. Scott, Jason. 2003. Exploring the Funding Relationships Between Community Foundations and Faith-Based Social Service Providers. The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy. The Rockefeller Institute of Government. State University of New York.
6. Reese, Laura. 2001. Faith-Based Community Development in Detroit. CULMA - Center for Urban Studies Working Paper Series. Wayne State University.
7. Fannie Mae Foundation. 2001. Facts About the Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Providing Affordable Housing and Financial Services in American Communities. Washington, DC: Fannie Mae.
8. Applied Real Estate Analysis. 1998. "Making Homeownership a Reality: Survey of Habitat for Humanity, Inc. Homeowners and Affiliates." Washington, D.C.: US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
9. Homelessness and Housing: A Human Tragedy, A Moral Challenge," A Statement of the Administrative Board, United States Catholic Conference, March 24, 1988, p. 3.
