21 Cottages at $500 to $750 a Month: A Fresno Church Puts Its Acre to Work for Seniors

• Westside Church of God in southwest Fresno is working with the Southwest Fresno Development Corporation on 21 senior cottages.
• The project sits on one acre on West California Avenue; rents are expected to be $500 to $750 a month.
• Nearly $1 million in grants had been raised, and completion is expected by late 2026.
• California’s SB 4, the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, passed in 2023.

A Fresno church is turning an acre of its land into homes for low-income seniors. Fresnoland, in a report by Gisselle Medina, said Westside Church of God has joined the ‘Yes in God’s Backyard’ movement.

The church is working with the Southwest Fresno Development Corporation on 21 senior cottages on one acre on West California Avenue in southwest Fresno. Rents are expected to range from $500 to $750 a month. Nearly $1 million in grants had been raised, and completion is expected by late 2026.

The project comes after California passed SB 4, the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, in 2023. The report said Fresno County has nearly 1,900 acres of faith-based land that could potentially be developed, and that a national Faith in Housing Act had been reintroduced in Congress in September 2025.

Bishop Paul Binion described the neighbourhood: “These are hardworking people. Families, professionals, business owners, doctors and lawyers live here.” He added: “Our mission is to meet needs. To bring hope to people who feel forgotten.” Allysunn Walker, president of the Southwest Fresno Development Corporation, said: “The church has to involve itself in this housing crisis.” Année Kim of YIGBY said of church landowners: “They care more about affordability than profitability.”

Small cottages on a single acre show that church housing does not need to be a large apartment block. A church with modest spare land can partner with a local development group, raise grants and house older people at rents they can afford. Many Jamaican churches own an acre or more beyond their buildings, and some ageing members may struggle with rent or poor housing. A cluster of small homes on church land, built with partners and grants, is a scale many congregations could manage, subject to planning approval and sound management.