Bricks and Mortals will post a roundup of news articles and media related to houses of worship, real estate, and affordable housing development.
As COVID-19 cases continue to decline in the US, religious organizations are debating what to do with their online worship services. The pandemic prompted a reckoning in many congregations as they consider what worship means in an increasingly virtual world. Over at New_Public, a non-profit devoted to building better digital public spaces, writers in their weekly newsletter debated what a "sacred space" might look like online.
In Minnesota, Love Minneapolis, a project of the Sanctuary Covenant Church has purchased a nearby property, a liquor store with a parking lot that had become a site of violence and illegal activity. The non-profit hopes to redevelop the property into a new use that will discourage community violence.
In the Bronx, the historic Pilgrim United Church of Christ building has fallen into disrepair -- a congregation worships in another structure on the property -- but the larger building, which is in need of significant rehabilitation, remains a source of tension with the wider community.
As the costs for heating fuel rise, congregations worldwide have struggled to keep up with larger bills. But some congregations, like Fort Palmer Presbyterian Church in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, have had their heating fuel siphoned off and stolen from them, costing them thousands of dollars.
In East New York, housing rights activists held a mock trial for the tax lien sale, which displaces homeowners in communities of color who are struggling to keep up with property taxes. In addition to harming these homeowners, many faith-based organizations find themselves on the tax lien sale list. As non-profit organizations, houses of worship are exempt from paying property tax, but if correct paperwork is not filed, properties may end up for sale.
As anti-Semitic attacks at synagogues and against Jewish people unfortunately become more common, many synagogues have considered how to keep their congregations safe. In Brooklyn, the UJA Federation of New York started a fund to help small synagogues, which often have little or no staff, implement security measures on their property.
Nationwide, Conservative synagogues are struggling to find rabbis. Last year, there were 80 Conservative synagogues seeking rabbis, but there were not enough rabbis to fill all the positions.
In Chicago, several news stories highlighted the ongoing work that churches are doing to help the housing and homelessness crisis. The Good Hope Free Will Baptist Church held a Valentine's event distributing food and supplies. This work by faith communities has been occurring for a long time -- another story highlighted the Stone Temple Baptist Church's work during the 1960s to fight for housing equality.
In Connecticut, the Trinity Episcopal Church has developed a strategy to engage with community members during a time of declining membership in denominational faith communities. The church is opening the "Trinity Spiritual Center." The Center offers meditation classes, lectures, and other programs.
Sapelo Square, a Muslim education and media collective, recently launched "Preserving the Legacy," an online exhibition of portraits of Black Muslims in the United States. The exhibit also features recorded statements from the subjects of the portraits about their experiences and work in their communities.
Black graduates from seminaries have significantly more student debt than their white peers. (This issue is in line with racial inequities in student debt generally.) Because of this crushing debt, some have become "bivocational," working two full-time jobs so that they can both pursue ministry but also support themselves, pay down debt, and support their families.
Lifeway Research undertook a survey of Protestant pastors in September 2021 about their views about racial reconciliation. A majority of pastors (71%) believed that racism was a bigger threat to the church than critical race theory (23%), though this gap was smaller in some segments, such as amongst evangelical pastors.
While the press has breathlessly recounted the rising cost of home sales, rents are increasing throughout the US. In some markets, like Austin, Texas, rents have risen as much as 40%. As rents rise and landlords seek to evict tenants, many landlords illegally perform "lock out evictions" in NYC and beyond. A report in The City found that landlords almost never face legal consequences for such illegal evictions.
Rising rents are due at least in part to inadequate supply of housing units. Many municipalities have attempted to encourage additional housing by allowing "Accessory Dwelling Units" (ADUs) to be built on existing lots. Salt Lake City's ADU program has built only 30 units, largely because construction still requires the approval of city planners, creating a lot of red tape that property owners are seemingly unwilling to make their way through. (New York State is currently weighing legislation about ADUs as well, though trying to navigate the statewide need for affordable housing with small municipalities seeking to retain local government control is proving difficult.)
Beyond ADUs, planners and government officials are exploring other ways to generate more affordable housing stock. Writer Kaley Overstreet proposed looking to trailer parks as models for housing affordability in ArchDaily. (Though rising rents have devastated mobile home owners as well: as ground rents have risen, many have been forced to relocate.) In Mercury News, writer Louis Hansen suggested turning vacant lots owned by San Francisco's department of education into affordable housing developments.
But new housing construction can be politically fraught for neighborhoods. In Chicago, pro-housing activists are clashing with anti-gentrification activists, who believe that building additional housing will increase demand in the neighborhood and raise rents even further. This week, Vox published a video, "In Defense of the 'Gentrification Building,'" which explored the extent to which new construction causes displacement.
But affordable housing doesn't necessarily have to look like the boxy buildings that Vox calls "gentrification buildings": in Houston, a new development is designed to promote "neighborly ties" and includes significant community space.
