2025 Cohort Focus: Building Affordable Housing on Religious Properties

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Locations: Triangle and Triad regions of North Carolina

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The single greatest resource for solving the affordable housing crisis in the Triangle and Triad is already present in the regions: thousands of acres owned by faith communities. Permanent supportive housing for unhoused individuals; multifamily residential; senior housing; housing for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities; housing for refugees; mixed-income rentals; and first-time homeowner opportunities — all of these can be built on religious properties. What’s more, new housing can catalyze equitable development: affordable child care, accessible healthcare, green spaces, healthy food systems, plus jobs and enterprises owned by women and people of color. The question is, How to unlock religious properties for the flourishing of these regions?

 

Sympara offers one hopeful answer: The Sacred/Civic Placemaking Project will bring together 10-12 congregations that want to build housing on their properties. Starting in January 2025 in two cohorts, the eight-month peer learning experience will help congregations discern their calling to housing, engage neighbors and other community stakeholders in visioning, and prepare for the multiyear journey with developers, funders, and programmatic partners.

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Curriculum: Each congregation will have a cohort committee of eight to 10 leaders, equally divided between members and community stakeholders. The cohort experience will include: 

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• Full-day opening and closing events

• Monthly peer learning exchanges hosted by the participating congregations

• Theological reflection on identity, community, hospitality, and stewardship

• Introduction to historical and contemporary models of faith-rooted community development

• Asset-mapping with neighbors to make visible resources, strengths, and opportunities

• Site analysis and financial feasibility

• Design sprints that lead to short-term experiments in property reuse

• Field trips to learn from other congregations that have built affordable housing

• Individual coaching on discernment and change management

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Criteria for Congregations: Sympara seeks to work with congregations that have (1) developable property — excess land and/or buildings that can be redesigned or reconstructed to make room for housing; (2) leadership capacity — passion, skill, and bandwidth in clergy and laity; (3) social capital — community relationships that can be leveraged; and (4) congregational readiness and, if necessary, judicatory support — a shared desire to reimagine property for community impact and a willingness to embark upon a journey that will take at least three years beyond the cohort experience.

 

Timeline: January-October 2024; Sympara assesses and recruits congregations; November-December 2024: selected congregations do pre-cohort work; January-August 2025: cohort experience.

 

Cost: Philanthropies will cover most of the cost. Sympara asks each congregation to contribute $4,000. If that presents a burden, we ask for some portion of the cost or introduction to donors.

 

Learn More: Email Daniel Pryfogle to schedule a call.

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2025-2026 Cohort Focus: Building Affordable Housing on Religious Properties

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Locations: Rural North Carolina and Charlotte/Mecklenburg County.

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Stay tuned! Details to come.