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Pennsylvania diocese plans to build affordable clergy housing on underused sites

September 25, 2026

[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. 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. 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. 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. In addition to providing affordable housing, “we also thought this is a good way of building a community of new clergy,” Gutiérrez said. Newly relocated priests often feel isolated and alone in their new city. “They don’t know anyone, and they’re coming from maybe Mississippi or California.” The clergy housing will help break down those social barriers while also offering living spaces for single people, couples and families of all sizes. 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 would be next to active churches. He added that one site is within the Philadelphia city limits, along with two suburban sites. Similar efforts are already underway through the diocese’s Transformation Initiative. Planners have estimated the diocese has 2.5 million square feet of underutilized space, and the diocese has identified 26 church properties where housing redevelopment projects could be viable — not to replace those congregations, but to make more productive use of their campuses. Under a separate but related branch of the Transformation Initiative, the diocese is working with another test group of congregations to launch a program of diocesan administrative support services. The diocese intends to leverage expertise in a range of tasks, from financial accounting to web design, to relieve local leaders of some of those burdens. The clergy housing initiative, then, represents a third branch of these diocesan efforts toward sustainability, at a time when lack of affordable housing has been identified as a national crisis. In 2023, the diocese’s Board of Trustees authorized $4 million in proceeds from the 2021 sale of the Wapiti diocesan retreat property in Maryland to be used as seed money for the Transformation Initiative, and some of that money will be available to build housing for clergy, Gutiérrez said. Site configurations are still being designed, though Gutiérrez has insisted that a central worship space be incorporated into the plans, so residents can gather for Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer or other services. “I want this to feel like not only a home but a spiritual place,” he said. He expects the initial plans will be finalized in the coming months, so that the diocese can break ground on housing construction by late 2027 or early 2028. – David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.