California’s housing crisis isn’t just pricing out families—it’s pricing out the ministry leaders who serve them.
When pastors, nonprofit workers, and church staff can’t afford to live near the communities they serve, churches hollow out. Students lose their mentors. Neighborhoods lose their anchors.
At Aslan Housing Foundation, we help ministry leaders buy homes and find affordable rentals. We help churches and ministries rethink housing strategy—through down payment assistance, consulting, and creative partnerships.
And Peninsula Covenant Church (PCC) proved it’s possible.
The Challenge
PCC had two large off-campus parsonages. Both were built decades ago and served large pastoral families—the nuclear family model of 1975—not 2025.
Today’s ministry reality looks different. More singles in ministry. Smaller families. Young leaders who need to build equity, not just occupy church-owned housing.
The parsonages were underutilized. Costly to maintain. In expensive neighborhoods. Not well leveraged.
But who on staff has time to figure out a better way? What elder does? As Gary Gaddini, the church’s lead pastor at the time, put it:
“I don’t know how we would do it without Aslan. It’s challenging enough to fight the good fight for the spiritual health of people on this Peninsula. To have to do that while you’re lifting the load of the housing crisis, the unbelievable weight, the pressure? It’s almost unbearable. Aslan’s coming alongside our pastors, our staff, and they’re lifting that load for us in ways beyond what traditional thinking has done.”
That weight—the housing crisis bearing down on ministry leaders—is what we set out to lift.
Most churches in this situation are stuck. They do nothing. They let mismatched homes ‘bless’ staff renters. No one builds equity. This doesn’t serve the mission.
The pastoral housing crisis is the greatest strategic threat to ministry in California and other expensive markets. We’re here to solve it.
The Approach
We worked with PCC leadership and congregants to completely reimagine their real estate strategy: liquidate and redeploy.
- We sold both parsonages for top dollar after tactical refurbishments, landscaping, and beautiful staging.
- We purchased a modest home and renovated it.
- We added density with an ADU, and a JADU.
- We acquired a duplex and renovated it.
The result: 2 underutilized large homes became 5 practical ones, all offered to ministry staff below-market:
- Main house (3bd/2ba)
- ADU (1bd/1ba)
- JADU (Studio)
- Duplex unit 1 (2bd/1ba)
- Duplex unit 2 (2bd/1ba)
This wasn’t just creative math—it required partnership. Donated capital from supporters who believe in this mission pitched in. Combined with proceeds from the parsonage sales and our Down Payment Assistance Program, we turned two homes into five affordable units and helped one pastor buy. And, there’s still cash left over to help someone else.
More ministry staff housed. Lower cost per door. Sustainable model. And pastors building equity instead of just occupying space. That’s what this work is actually about—keeping ministry leaders rooted.
Why This Matters
This isn’t just about one church. It’s about what’s possible when faith communities rethink their real estate assets and their staff’s needs. When they have a plan and a compelling vision.
Across California—and across the country—churches own property that no longer serves current ministry realities. Oversized parsonages. Underutilized buildings. Land that could be developed. Untapped financial capacity in the pews.
What if we stopped treating the pastoral housing crisis as a foregone conclusion and started treating it as a creative witness for God’s mission?
Our theory of change: Glorify God with thriving churches and ministries through thriving pastors and staff. And, these called, committed people can’t thrive if they’re couch surfing, their spouse is on Zillow looking at Idaho, or their kids are changing schools because their rental is getting refurbed for a flip.
More and more people are thinking about redeveloping church land for workforce housing or mixed use developments, often to subsidize construction of better church facilities. Great. But, very few are thinking about how to help the pastors themselves. That’s our distinctive.
Why Our Structure Matters
We’re a nonprofit public charity. That means we’re mission-driven, not return-driven. It shapes every decision we make—from how we structure partnerships to how we advise churches on their real estate strategy. We are unabashedly pro-pastor.
What Our Partners Say
Gary Gaddini, former Lead Pastor at Peninsula Covenant Church (now CEO, Transforming the Bay with Christ)
Replicability
This model works because it:
- Leverages existing church assets
- Combines donor capital with real estate proceeds
- Uses California’s ADU laws to add density affordably
- Creates sustainable housing, not just one-time transactions
- Provides below-market rentals that match today’s ministry workforce
- Builds equity for ministry leaders
Any church with underutilized property could do this. Denominational offices could scale this across their networks. Anyone can contribute to the solution.
We’re proving that financial innovation and faithful stewardship can work together—and that the people most invested in their communities are already building the solutions we need.
What’s Next
We’re grateful for our partnership with PCC and its leaders who had the courage to try something new.
PCC sits on a prominent street in a well-traveled neighborhood. When we helped them reimagine their strategy, word got out. People could see the change. We won’t hide our light under a bushel. We’re answering the call to churches and ministries all over the West Coast.
For ministry leaders who need housing support, check out our Down Payment Assistance Program that helps you build stability while serving your community.
We also operate Got Housing? Need Housing?™—a cross-denominational exchange connecting congregants with available BMR rentals to ministry staff who need them. Because a pastor at First Baptist shouldn’t struggle to find housing when a congregant at Second Presbyterian has an available rental.
For churches wrestling with staff housing, we provide Strategic Consulting. If your church is stuck in the cycle of underutilized parsonages, cash rental assistance draining your budget, and staff who can’t afford to buy homes—we can help you create a transparent, values-informed housing policy that breaks the pattern. From parsonage strategy to equity-share programs, we help you see what’s possible.
Strategy. Creativity. Connections.
Ready to explore options? Reach out!
Know a church or denomination that could benefit from this approach? Share this story.
This is what faithful stewardship looks like in 2025.
About Aslan
Aslan Housing Foundation is a California public charity that keeps ministry leaders rooted in the communities they serve. We’ve deployed $13 million through nonprofit housing equity and church property innovation—partnering with Young Life, InterVarsity, and churches across California to keep their staff rooted and their ministries thriving.