“Either Close It or Renew It”: A Winnipeg Anglican Church Leases Its Building for $1 to Create 26 Affordable Homes

• St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Winnipeg’s West End became WestEnd Commons
• The $8.5 million project created 26 affordable homes, six of them accessible
• A non-profit manages the building under a $1 lease from the church
• The church had a leaking roof, rotting floors and black mould before the work

A century-old Anglican church in Winnipeg has been transformed into affordable housing while continuing as a place of worship, the Anglican Journal reported in May 2019.

St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Winnipeg’s West End was in poor condition before the project. “The rain was coming in the roof, you could put your foot through the floor in the basement. There was black mould,” the report quoted. Faced with the choice to “either close it or renew it”, the parish chose renewal.

The result, WestEnd Commons, cost $8.5 million and created 26 affordable homes, six of them accessible, along with a neighbourhood resource centre in the basement. The building is managed by St Matthew’s Housing Inc., a non-profit that is not faith-based, under a $1 lease from the church. About 35 people attend St Matthew’s on Sundays, and four congregations now worship in the building.

Former rector Rev Cathy Campbell and current rector Rev Gwen McAllister led the church through the change. “We’ve been here for 100 years, we’re going to be here for 100 more,” one leader said, adding: “It’s worth dreaming, it’s worth doing, and we can do it.”

For Jamaican churches with large, ageing buildings and small congregations, St Matthew’s offers a practical model. Leasing a building to a housing non-profit for a nominal sum can bring in outside funding for repairs and housing while keeping the church in its home. Canada’s Caribbean congregations in Winnipeg, Toronto and elsewhere can use the same approach, and churches in Jamaican towns could explore partnerships with housing agencies to add homes to church sites.

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