“Banks Won’t Lend to a Church”: How Two New York Congregations Learned to Turn Their Land Into 200-Plus Homes

• A LISC programme helps New York churches develop their own land for housing
• A Baptist church in Jamaica, Queens, plans 87 affordable apartments, a daycare and a new sanctuary
• A Bronx Episcopal parish plans 135 affordable and supportive homes
• The pastor says banks would not lend to a church

Many churches own land but have no idea how to build on it. A programme run by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) in New York is trying to change that. LISC reported that its New York Land Opportunity Program, launched in 2016, had helped faith groups plan more than 300 affordable homes across its first projects, backed by a $500,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase.

One of the congregations is St. John’s Global Ministries of the Kingdom, a 95-year-old Baptist church in Jamaica, Queens, led by Pastor Apostle Lawrence Dorsey and his mother, Minnie Dorsey. The church owns three small adjoining plots and plans 87 affordable apartments, a daycare and a new church building. “God began to transform our vision. We began to think about housing,” Pastor Dorsey said. “We didn’t know anything in the beginning, but by trial and error, we learned a little.”

Finance was the first wall they hit. “Originally, we tried to go the bank way. You see, banks will give people and businesses millions of dollars, but they won’t lend to a church—because nobody wants to foreclose on a church if they don’t make it!” he said. “We heard about tax credits. Then, somehow, we found out about LISC and we started to learn a whole lot more.”

In the Williamsbridge section of the Bronx, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, a 1,000-member congregation led by Father Pierre-Andrew Duvert, owns several buildings and plans 135 units of affordable and supportive housing, a health clinic and more space for its food programme. “Currently, we feed 175 people a day, 3,500 a month. You have to study the needs of the neighborhood,” said church warden Dr Christine Greenidge. “You have to build a team that is highly motivated and can articulate your plans.” Grace Chung, who manages the programme, explained the approach: “These are groups with limited expertise in real estate. Our job is to help them learn how to talk to an architect, how to understand financing, how to find the right lawyer.”

The pastor’s line about banks will sound familiar to many Jamaican congregations that have tried to borrow against a church building. The New York model shows another route: keep the land, bring in expert advisers and use housing finance built for the purpose. For Jamaican churches sitting on unused plots, and for diaspora congregations in neighbourhoods such as Jamaica, Queens, the first step is the same: learn the language of architects, lawyers and lenders before signing anything.

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