Kingston Parish in Mathews County, Virginia, is converting its vacant historic rectory into two rental homes for teachers and other moderate-income workers, at a cost of about $360,000 funded by grants and donations.

Valley Forge Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania is converting its vacant former chapel and nursery school into 20 affordable apartments, a $6.2 million project it owns and a housing association will manage.

The former Jamisontown Uniting Church in Western Sydney, closed after 130 years, was listed for townhouse development as the church cited $1 million in repairs, while residents pushed for the building to be kept and converted into homes.

The former Trinity United Methodist Church in Roanoke, Virginia, has been converted into Trinity Commons, 15 one-bedroom apartments for people aged 55 and over, including people who have experienced homelessness.

Antigua and Barbuda’s government bought a former Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall at Sea View Farm for US$3 million and, with advice from PAHO, will convert it into a behavioural health institute for short-term psychiatric care.

Historic England highlighted how faith groups, including London Pentecostal churches, have taken over listed former cinemas such as the Granada in Woolwich and the Gaumont State in Kilburn, keeping them in use.

Two near-derelict former Anglican churches in Devonport, Auckland, bought for NZ$1.32 million in 2017 and converted into luxury homes, sold for $4.25 million after an earlier deal collapsed over a Commerce Commission ruling.

Boston’s vacant Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Jamaica Plain is being converted into 55 affordable rental homes after a $37.6 million tax-exempt bond, with six units set aside for people leaving homelessness.

Facing empty pews, Massachusetts churches are handing over buildings for housing and homeless services, including a Roxbury parish planning 217 mostly affordable homes and a Cambridge church converting its rectory, school and convent into 46 affordable units.

Timber Equities secured a $37.5 million loan for 198 rental homes, 40 of them affordable, on the former St Columba Catholic campus in Chelsea, bought from the Archdiocese of New York for $48 million.