An Inglewood church is bringing 60 affordable housing units to the city amid long-simmering debates on how rapid recent development has affected the community.
Inglewood First United Methodist Church, a 90-year-old church on the corner of Spruce Avenue and Kelso Street, will break ground on the 60-unit project on Feb. 7, according to the Rev. Victor Cyrus-Franklin, the church’s supervising pastor.
Cyrus-Franklin said the small, working-class church had options to cash out and sell or lease the land for a market-rate project, but affordable housing was more aligned with its principles.
“Jesus says love your neighbors,” Cyrus-Franklin said. “When we look at what the congregation needs to continue to be vital and thrive, it’s also about what our neighbors need.”
The church is on the early end of what could become a trend of California houses of worship trying to build affordable housing on spare land. In 2023, California lawmakers passed Senate Bill 4, a law that allows faith institutions to skip some city planning hoops on their way to building affordable housing. The law went into effect in January 2024.
Cyrus-Franklin pastored the Inglewood church from 2017 to 2022 and now leads Holman United Methodist Church in West Adams. The pastor said church leaders started exploring an affordable housing project for the church’s outbuildings in 2019 after the departure of a charter school that leased them.
Cyrus-Franklin said construction is expected to take roughly two-and-a-half years.
California officials say the state is building new housing far more slowly than it needs, contributing to high rents, dwindling numbers of homeowners and high levels of homelessness.
Inglewood, a city where just a third of residences are owner-occupied, is targeting the construction of nearly 7,500 new residential units this decade, according to the city’s housing plan. Policymakers hope a supply of new residences could balance out the demand for rental units and open up more opportunities for people to buy homes.
City leaders have drawn flak from some residents who say Inglewood’s entertainment-oriented development strategy has done more to serve tourists than locals. In December, the city approved a hotel and condominium project on Century Boulevard over objections from residents who took issue with its lack of affordable housing.
“I am happy that Inglewood is finally starting to get the investment it’s needed for the last 50 years. I don’t like how it’s being rolled out,” said Yolanda Davidson, an Inglewood born-and-raised resident who ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2022. “I don’t like the displacement of long-term residents and long term businesses.”
Inglewood First United Methodist’s project got unanimous approval on Jan. 15 from the Inglewood City Council. The city will loan a total $9 million to the nonprofit Congregational Land Partners — whose mission is to help religious organizations use their “underutilized land” for affordable housing — to help with construction costs, including $4 million from a federal housing grant and the rest from city funds.
“We’re making sure that it happens,” Butts said. “Affordable housing, very important.”
Will other churches build affordable housing?
Inglewood First United Methodist could be the first of several congregations to turn to housing development across Southern California.
Phillip Burns, executive director Congregational Land Partners, said the advisory group has received dozens of inquiries from congregations and that Inglewood First United Methodist’s efforts have become a model.
“It’s a way for them to meet their mission, do something good, monetize their land,” Burns said.
Cyrus-Franklin said he sees some momentum around church housing projects, but that many are missing the kind of know-how that groups like Congregational Land Partners provide.
The Inglewood congregation, which the nonprofit has worked with informally since 2019, is one of the furthest along, Burns said. The church’s project did not lean on SB 4, but Burns said it did take advantage of the provisions of a 2017 permit streamlining bill, SB 34, and state law that allows denser development for affordable housing projects.
Burns said many of those projects turned out not to be feasible in the near-term — funding is a typical roadblock — but the group is currently advising 16 different congregations across Southern California on the process of planning, funding and building a total of 1,600 affordable housing units. The planning process can take five years or more, he said.