“Sign Here, I’ll Build What You Want”: The Matchmakers Protecting Churches From Bad Development Deals

• Intermediary groups pair churches with developers and coach clergy
• New York’s Interfaith Affordable Housing Collaborative pre-screens congregations
• A California group recommends 55- to 65-year ground leases as safest for churches
• Projects can take seven or eight years or more

Churches with land often lack the know-how to deal with developers, and some have been taken advantage of. Shelterforce reported in August 2025 on the “matchmakers” who help congregations find the right partners and avoid bad deals.

In New York, the Interfaith Affordable Housing Collaborative pre-screens houses of worship. “What does your community need? What do you need as a congregation? And from there, the profile is written, and you go out and you find who matches that profile,” said project manager Rashida Tyler. Its vice president, the Rev Peter Cook, said the group was formed because churches “particularly in New York City, [were being] exploited by developers who basically came in and said, ‘Sign here, I’ll build what you want.'”

Enterprise Community Partners runs a Faith-Based Development Initiative that coaches clergy and funds early work. Topics such as “how to run a pro forma, how to negotiate a land disposition deal” are “not typically taught in seminary,” said David Bowers. In California, Jill Shook of Making Housing & Community Happen, now Congregational Land Partners, said churches can sell, form joint ventures or grant ground leases, typically for 55 to 65 years, and recommended the lease as safest. “A developer should not be asking them for funding,” she said. “If they are expecting the church to raise money, it means they’re not a very good developer.”

Timelines can run seven or eight years or more. “Churches and faith-based organizations are best positioned to act as a model for how real estate actually should be, which is centering people,” Tyler said.

Jamaican churches approached by developers face the same risks. A long ground lease, independent advice and a clear idea of what the church and community need can protect congregations from signing away land on poor terms. Jamaican lawyers, valuers and bankers in the diaspora could play the matchmaker role for churches back home, helping them weigh offers before they sign.

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