church land

An Adventist breakaway group, Following the Blueprint Ministries, has built more than 13 buildings including homes, a school and a sanatorium on leased land at Bell Hill, St Mary, with no road access or running water, raising questions from local officials.

Kingdom Bank made the largest loan in its history, £1 million, to help Dundonald Church in Wimbledon complete a new 650-seat building that includes flats for private sale, with profits supporting homeless services.

After six years, two public inquiries and a High Court challenge, the government approved a tower of homes with a replacement church on the Purley Baptist Church site in Croydon, south London.

In 2020 the Archbishops’ housing commission launched two competitions: one offering £30,000 grants to church projects helping people keep their homes, and one giving free expert advice to churches planning housing on their land.

Trinity Family of Astoria/Long Island City has dedicated a 39-apartment building on its former parking lot, built by Azimuth Development under a 99-year land lease, with a fifth of the units let at affordable rents through the city lottery.

Himachal Pradesh revenue authorities ruled that church properties, which are exempt from the state’s 30-acre land ceiling, cannot be sold without government permission, after a dispute over a 107-year-old church-run leprosy home in Palampur.

A Religion News Service report found about 1,100 faith-owned properties on more than 2,000 acres in San Diego County, as a Lutheran church planned apartments on its parking lot and an Episcopal church opened 45 affordable homes.

San Antonio set aside $300,000 for a pilot to help churches develop affordable homes on an estimated 3,000 acres of underused church land, with several congregations, including West End Baptist and Travis Park Church, already exploring projects.

The Diocese of Truro’s proposal for three market homes on church land in Camelford drew mixed reactions in 2019, with the mayor disappointed at the lack of social housing and a councillor worried about access onto the A39.

The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa plans to replace an ageing rectory beside Christ Church Bells Corners with a four-storey building of up to 40 mostly low-income rental homes, plus space for a food bank and community services.

A 164-unit low-income senior housing building was proposed in 2019 for the Rocky Mount Baptist Church site in Fort George, Manhattan, after a 19-storey plan was voted down and a 10-storey plan lost its financing.

The site of All Souls Roman Catholic Church in Weaste, Salford, empty since the church was demolished in 2011, is being turned into Melody Gardens, 58 affordable homes let at rents capped at Local Housing Allowance.

Villagers in Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, criticised the Diocese of Coventry over plans to put about 50 homes on seven acres of Victorian allotments used by 97 gardeners; the diocese said replacement allotments would be required.

Four years after the 2010 earthquake destroyed about 80% of its buildings, Haiti’s Episcopal diocese proposed rental offices, condominiums, apartments and a supermarket on the old bishop’s house site to fund its recovery.

King’s House sits on land a colonial governor took from the Church of England, essentially selling it to himself, with the proceeds buying the church its Nuttall Hospital land instead. That history resurfaced in a 2011 UDC land dispute.