Churches & Housing Panel

PRC is beginning an annual, intensive topical focus designed to stimulate education, conversation, and action. Join us for panels, presentations, and speaker events exploring PRC’s 2022 Topic of the Year: Housing.

This workshop is live online via Zoom. A recording will also be available to registrants to view at their convenience.

This second panel will highlight unique church-based housing projects. Hear the logistics behind how groups brainstormed ideas, implemented projects, and plan for ongoing management and expansion. Learn how you can get involved with these community projects, or inspire your own congregation or group to start work in this important topic.

Presenters include:

Chestnut Housing Corporation is a nonprofit that grew out of East Chestnut St. Mennonite Church. They buy properties in Lancaster City, renovate them, and rent the apartments at rates significantly below market value to clients referred by Tenfold, Milagro House, Good Samaritan Services, or CAP. Chestnut Housing currently provides twelve units of affordable housing in Lancaster City.

Grace Lutheran Church runs the nonprofit Lancaster Housing and Neighborhood Development Services (LHands), founded in 1998 as a non-profit corporation. In 2004 they were approved as a Community Housing Development Organization, based on working in a neighborhood which is a HUD-designated revitalization area, as well as committing to renting to folks who earn at or lower than 80% of Area Median Income. They rent out 11 apartments, all at affordable rates. These buildings fulfill an important need in the community while diversifying the revenue stream for the congregation.

Home on Ferdinand. part of the Manheim Community Life Group, is a transitional housing facility for women and children who are facing homelessness. The Home on Ferdinand provides a safe place for women to receive individualized support, such as providing clothing and other necessities, budget counseling, and connections to community resources.

Love, INC runs a program called Homes of Hope, in partnership with five to seven churches around Lancaster County, which maintains homes for families with children experiencing homelessness. The homes are in different school districts and families are matched with a home that allows the children to stay within their school district.

Off the Streets Lancaster, housed at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, helps families and individuals get off the streets and into permanent housing. They fill missing pieces to transition those who are homeless into housing, such as a security deposit and basic furnishings. They work with local service agencies to identify clients.

Bridge of Hope connects and trains churches who want to walk alongside a mother and children facing homelessness. They provide a caseworker and a two-year plan to help families stabilize with the help of the volunteers.