To stem the housing crisis, religious congregations are building homes

The crowd that prayed together at Arlington Presbyterian Church’s Sunday worship service had dwindled from more than 100 to a few dozen. Donations dropped, and for years, congregation members grappled with how to reinvent their nearly century-old Northern Virginia church. 

Neighbors’ stories guided the church’s radical transformation. As church members spoke with people who worked nearby, they heard a common concern: People were struggling to afford to live there. 

“Those stories broke their hearts,” says the Rev. Ashley Goff, pastor since 2018. “They really felt this call by God to do something very dramatic about the lack of affordable housing.” 

After some contentious discussions, the church reached a decision to use the greatest asset it had: real estate. In 2016 the church sold its land and historic stone building to the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing, a nonprofit developer, for $8.5 million.