According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Texas has just 25 affordable and available rental homes per 100 “extremely low-income” households — one of the lowest ratios among all U.S. states.
Extremely low-income households, or ELIs, capture those with incomes at or below the federal poverty level, or below 30 percent of their area’s median income.
That gap sheds light not just on the housing shortages in Texas at large but on the specific housing crisis happening in the city of Austin.
In 2023, home prices in Austin fell by 1.5% statewide. But even with this decline in mind, Austin metro prices were up by 43% between 2019 and 2023.
It’s a moment that Mt. Zion Baptist Church rises to meet with grace — and action.
In March, reverend Daryl Horton announced an initiative to replace 10 existing bungalows on the church’s property with 80 affordable housing units.
Horton plans to rent the apartments out to local seniors — many of whom are church members — at affordable prices.
“We are to help those who are less fortunate, those who have fallen on hard times,” Horton told KUT News, an Austin news outlet. “That’s part of the dynamic and the heartbeat of what it means to be a person of faith.”
As the median home value in Austin doubled in the past decade, the reverend estimates that half of his congregation has been priced out of the community where they were born and raised.
“It’s such a tragedy to see how quickly East Austin has changed,” Horton said. “But what a joy it would be for people to be able to spend their twilight years…where they started.”
On Sunday, March 23, Horton requested prayers from his congregation — in the form of swiftly approved building permits.
“Y’all keep praying for the city as those permits keep going through,” Horton told the hundred-plus people in pews. “We’re gonna get it taken care of so we can continue to build what God has called us to build.”
Horton is not alone when it comes to tackling the affordable housing crisis with faith-based action.
He joins a number of churches who, in recent years, have championed the “Yes, in God’s backyard” movement — which stands in direct defiance to the NIMBY, or “Not in my backyard,” term used to disparage affordable housing projects.
Churches like Village of Faith Ministries in Virginia which is converting their 1.5 acre property into 192 apartments and 40 townhomes.
“We know that housing is a need,” pastor Michael Jones told Next City in January, adding that he was working with developers to create a housing plan that could meet the church’s financial goals while still keeping rent costs low for their neighbors.
And as churches like Village Faith Ministries work on long-term solutions to meeting housing needs, Central Lutheran Church of Anchorage, Alaska took a more direct approach.
In the full grip of winter, the church built a tiny home village in their parking lot to re-home seniors experiencing homelessness.
The project was spearheaded by In Our Backyard, a nonprofit founded by members of the Central Lutheran Church.
“In Our Backyard is an opportunity to be proactive in addressing the needs of our unhoused neighbors,” the nonprofit writes on its website.
“With support from multiple faith-based organizations, community groups, nonprofits, and local agencies, this project will serve as a model for other organizations to support unhoused community members in their own neighborhoods.”
Header image via Debby Hudson / Unsplash
