- The Archbishops’ Council Housing Project approved 13 more grants in March 2026
- Total awards for feasibility and viability work passed £1 million across 48 projects
- Two of the latest grants went to church-linked housing charities building on church land
- An earlier round of 11 grants averaged £23,160 each
Before a church can build homes on its land, someone has to pay for the early studies. In March 2026 the Church of England’s Archbishops’ Council Housing Project approved a third round of 13 grants for that purpose, bringing its total awards for feasibility and viability work to more than £1 million across 48 projects, according to the Church Housing website.
“Two of them this time round went to local housing charities linked to the church and building on church land,” the announcement noted. The previous round, in November 2025, approved 11 grants averaging £23,160 each, mostly to cover professional fees for examining whether redevelopment projects including affordable homes were feasible and viable.
The programme has since been backed by a new tool. In June 2026, the Good Steward Mapping Tool was released to show where registered Church land is owned by parishes, dioceses and the Church Commissioners, with planning data such as land designations, heritage assets, flood zones and green belt.
Small grants for early work matter because many church housing ideas stall before they begin. Parishes rarely have the money to pay architects, surveyors and planning consultants to test whether a scheme can work, and without that evidence they cannot attract partners or finance.
In Jamaica, the lack of money for surveys, valuations and feasibility studies is often what keeps church land idle. A modest fund for this early stage, whether from a denomination, a housing agency or diaspora donors, could unlock far larger investment later. Jamaican professionals abroad could also offer this kind of early advice to their home churches.
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