📰 What Happened: U.S. church membership dropped from 70% in 1999 to 47% in 2020, with the National Council of Churches projecting up to 100,000 churches could close in the coming years. As a direct result, there’s a growing number of vacant churches ready for conversions. These church-to-home projects are springing up around the country, but are hard to pull off.

🔍 A Closer Look: Churches are typically sold at below-market prices, such as Glen Jackson’s $60,000 church in Pittsburgh. But the conversion process requires expensive updates to plumbing, heating, and electrical systems. Nontraditional financing, like a construction loan, is often necessary, and getting insurance can be tricky due to the lack of comparable properties.

🧠 Why It Matters: With so many churches potentially closing, there’s a national opportunity to repurpose historic buildings into homes, benefiting both people and their communities. But while converting churches offers a unique housing solution while preserving local history, it also requires significant time, money, and expertise.