Construction underway on San Diego's first affordable housing project developed on church land

The construction of the very first affordable housing project on church land is currently underway at Bethel AME Church premises. The 136-year-old Black church is located in Logan Heights, an urban neighbourhood in the central region of San Diego, California.

Dubbed Bethel One, San Diego’s first affordable housing project on church land is also the first to emerge from San Diego’s budding “Yes in God’s Backyard” (YIGBY) movement. YIGBY is an action-based, collaborative group of cross-sector professionals looking to address San Diego’s housing crisis by activating abundant, under-utilized faith community properties suitable for multi-family residential projects. The group was formed under the nonprofit Catalyst of San Diego & Imperial Counties.

The genesis of San Diego’s first affordable housing project developed on church land

Speaking on the project, Rev. Harvey Vaughn III said that he connected with YIGBY approximately five years ago. At the time, according to Vaughn who is the Bethel AME church senior pastor, the group was seeking faith communities interested in offering their land for the development of affordable housing.

Bethel AME happened to have an approximately 7,000-square-foot lot on Imperial Avenue that was occupied by a small and aging duplex and that’s how the journey for the Bethel One project began.

The project has however faced several delays, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The original plan to utilize prefabricated units fell apart because the cost of those units went up. The project also had to raise approximately US$ 1M in donations.

Funding for the Bethel One project

Most affordable housings are built using government subsidies in the form of tax credits. However, according to Evan Gerber, Bethel One is funded entirely through private donations and loans.

Gerber is the project consultant for San Diego’s first affordable housing project developed on church land. He said, “Government tax credits and public programs are a great tool in the development of affordable housing projects. On the flip side, however, you have to build a lot of units to make it make sense. Additionally, there are a lot of soft costs and additional fees that come with this kind of funding.”

Reportedly, avoiding those additional costs in addition to keeping the project relatively small, allowed Bethel One to keep its cost per unit low (at around US$ 260,000). For comparison, publicly funded affordable housing projects in San Diego can cost up to US$ 750,000 per unit or even more.

Completion of San Diego’s first affordable housing project developed on church land

Bethel One is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Upon completion, the project will offer a total of 25 one-bedroom apartments to low-income seniors and veterans. It will also have an additional unit reserved for an on-site property manager.

Vaughn hopes that upon completion, Bethel One will inspire more San Diego philanthropists to partner with faith communities in the development of privately funded affordable housing projects.

“I believe that once the individuals who have committed financially see how this project comes up, they will be very excited to invest in the development of similar or even larger projects,” Vaughn said.