Pennsylvania diocese plans to build affordable clergy housing on underused sites

The useful part

[Episcopal News Service] Clergy need housing, but housing is expensive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One thing the Diocese of Pennsylvania, which spans the five-county metro region, has is available space on which to build. That combination of factors sparked an idea that now has become the diocese's latest experiment in adaptive reuse of church properties.

How it works

• The initiative coincides with the diocese's ongoing Transformation Initiative.
• The diocese's emphasis is on new uses for underutilized church properties, including to ease the financial burden on congregations struggling to maintain aging facilities.
• The housing sites would be a mix of single-family houses or townhomes centered around a chapel or other worship space.
• to providing affordable housing, "we also thought this is a good way of building a community of new clergy," Gutiérrez said.

What to take from it

The diocese recently announced the launch of a new initiative that has identified at least three Episcopal properties for construction of affordable housing units that will be offered for rent to diocesan clergy and for priests who have been called to serve at churches that no longer have rectories. Gutiérrez declined to provide detailed information about the three prospective sites because discussions are still underway with congregations and zoning authorities, though he specified that one is a diocesan property and the other two wou...

Details worth keeping

Bishop Daniel Gutiérrez, in an interview with Episcopal News Service, said he envisions a kind of "neighborhood for priests." Each would live in diocese-owned rental housing resembling a "seminary setting," Gutiérrez said, with easy commutes to one of the diocese's 136 congregations. Newly relocated priests often feel isolated and alone in their new city.