A 130-Year-Old Church Was Listed for Townhouses. Neighbours Want It Saved as Homes Instead

• The former Jamisontown Uniting Church in Western Sydney closed in May 2025 after 130 years
• It was listed as an opportunity for townhouses, villas or multi-dwelling housing
• The church said repairs would cost about $1 million and proceeds would fund housing elsewhere
• Residents want the building kept and adapted into affordable homes

A dispute in Western Sydney over a closed church shows how hard the choice between heritage and housing can be. The ABC reported on 11 April 2026 that the former Jamisontown Uniting Church, which served the community for 130 years before closing in May 2025, had been listed for sale as a rare opportunity with potential for townhouses, villas or multi-dwelling housing. The listing was later taken offline while negotiations were under way.

The Uniting Church said it had received too little interest from community housing providers and faced about $1 million in refurbishment costs for structural issues, accessibility and asbestos. “Proceeds from the sale will support the church’s housing renewal program in Western Sydney, including redevelopment of existing low-density properties into medium-density housing in areas such as Liverpool and Fairfield,” it said.

Some residents want the old building kept. “There’s plenty of land around the church that they could use instead, if they wanted to build something on it,” said campaigner Amanda Davis. The report pointed to Dulwich Hill in Sydney’s inner west, where local investors bought a 100-year-old Anglican church and converted it into a sharehouse. One resident, Julian Robinson, said: “This property being urbanised has changed the lives of five people. It’s given us stability.”

The wider potential is large. Analysis by UrbanBio identified 747 faith-owned sites across New South Wales that could support housing, and suggested more than 20,000 homes could be built on under-used church land in metropolitan Sydney if zoning rules were relaxed. Amanda Bailey, chief executive of Faith Housing Australia, said: “Places of worship are places of joy and they offer a great antidote to social isolation.”

The Jamisontown case captures a hard trade-off. Selling a historic church can fund more homes elsewhere, but it can also erase a landmark the community values.

Jamaican congregations with closed or declining churches face the same choice. Before a historic building is sold, it is worth asking whether it can be adapted into homes, as at Dulwich Hill, or whether its land can be developed while the church itself is kept. For diaspora members who grew up in these buildings, being consulted early can make the difference between a painful loss and a new use that honours the past.

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