now for your "sunday viewpoint." good morning. i'm pat lawson muse. you know, we know, d.c.'s a very popular place to live. we also know strong demand for housing here has made it tougher to find affordable housing in the city, in the region. but several area developers are joining forces with non-profits and houses of worship to put more affordable housing on the market. one such effort is called the faith-based development initiative. joining us to talk about it are david bowers, who is vice president of enterprise community partners, and reverend patrice shepard, executive pastor in southwest and founder of lydia's house. thank you both for joining us this morning. so, david, your company's

leading the initiatives? tell us about it. >> enterprise community partners started the faith-based development initiative ten years ago, really as an effort to get new units of housing, new affordable homes on the market. our approach is to work with houses of worship who own land that's undeveloped or underdeveloped who may have an interest in building housing and community-serving facilities that serve particularly low and moderate-income houses across the region. our approach is to connect them to intellectual and financial capital with dollars and sense with an "s." we provide a range of technical assistance, workshops on different aspects of the development process, connection to developers, connection to real estate lawyers, and connection to grant support that will help them do market study and feasibility analysis. so, ultimately what we want to do is help houses of worship who want to do development, make informed go or no-go decisions about development and their vision, and if they decide to go, help them get connected to good professionals in the industry. >> and when you say houses

houses of worship of all faiths? >> that's exactly right. so, it could be a church, could be a mosque, could be a synagogue. so, we're actually, interestingly enough, we're working now with some mosques, we're working with churches across the region. >> and your partners are varied. the theological seminary, georgetown university? >> exactly right. we're blessed to have georgetown university and wesley seminary as well as the east police clergy partnership with strategic advisers who have thought through how to craft this, in some respects doing research, some respects outreach to the faith community. so it's really been a collaborative effort over the last decade. >> pastor shepard, your church and you have worked with this initiative. tell us about lydia's house. >> lydia's house is a full-service hud house counseling agency. we work with residents in helping them uptain, maintain and retain their housing choices.

enterprise community partners, they've helped our church be able to realize its vision to be able to provide housing for low and very low-income residents in far southwest/southeast d.c. >> how much housing, david, have you been able to provide? >> working with our house of worship partners and their development partners, over 500 new homes that are affordable, low-income folks built in the region, 300 under construction, and 1,000 in the pipeline. so we're excited about that in such a high-cost region to see these numbers coming online. >> and pastor shepard, you had a cdc at your church. one of your projects is trinity plaza, and we have some pictures. >> yes. >> tell us about this. >> trinity plaza's very exciting. it's 100% affordable housing for people making 60% of the area median income, and it's developed, 49 units of housing with one, two, and three-bedroom floor plans with commercial 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the first floor.

>> okay, and we've got some pictures of the other projects you have helped. >> sure, absolutely. >> one of them. >> you see one, that's the macedonian. that was developed by macedonia baptist church in arlington, virginia, and east of the river clergy police-community partnerships development in southeast. the projects have ranged from 176 units of housing in the elkington neighborhood, one of the quickly gentrifying neighborhoods, to the noth neighborhood where macedonia's project is in arlington. that's 36 units of family housing. and some of the housing has been geared towards folks who are returning from prison, now serving folks who are at danger and risk of homelessness. so it has ranged from family rental housing to housing for special needs populations, and that's what's exciting for us, working with houses of worship, that oftentimes, they're so mission-aligned, looking to serve a varying range of populations who have needs in our region. >> and pastor shepard, where does your population come from? where are your clients coming from? >>

southwest neighborhood called belleview, anacostia, congress heights, and from ward 7 in the deanwood area. so, they're coming to us for various reasons, either to become first-time home buyers in the district, or for rental counseling. we try to take people from homelessness to rental, from rental to home ownership. so we're looking at a long-term view of having people access affordable housing in the district. >> all right, we've got to take a break and we'll continue talking about the faith-based development initiative right after this.

we're talking about the faith-based development initiative this morning. we're talking about affordable housing. so, david bowers, what kind of reaction did you get when you put this coalition of developers together and you told them, we're going to work with churches? >> yep. so, it's interesting, some folks laughed at us, to be honest with you, because folks are saying, why are you going to work with

or these imams? they don't know about doing development. and i tell folks when i graduated from howard university seminary, i took old testament, new testament, but never to put together an organization, so bankers and government officials thought it was a little crazy to try to engage with houses of worship in terms of doing development, but we said they own the most critical development of doing a real estate development deal, and that's the land. and in such a high-cost real estate market, if you can have a partner that brings the land to the deal, to the table, and oftentimes is willing to put it into the deal maybe at a slightly reduced cost, it can really help make these deals work. >> there are many churches that have lots of land. what about your church? we have churches that have land where they are struggling in communities where others want that land and where they're, frankly, squeezed between and surrounded by redevelopment.

is most helpful with the faith-based development initiative is that it empowers churches to understand how to do the ministry, business of ministry. so, you are getting the same kind of education that a for-profit developer would have, and then you can begin to recognize the value of what it is that you're bringing to the deal. and with the technical assistance that the initiative provided, it helps you make sound business decisions because you're locked in by other people. it doesn't limit you to what it is that you're going to be able to do. and because we are faith-based, it really depends on what the lord has for each house of worship and what they're going to be able to produce and do. our development of trinity plaza was a little bit different. when we formed our community development corporation, we did that in the goal of rehabbing brownfield prod development. so we acquired boarded-up, abandoned properties in a strip mall at

atlantic street, and then we used the ownership of that land to put together a parcel to be able to develop trinity plaza. in our phase two, we are going to be looking at developing our church-owned property that's in a neighborhood that i think will benefit from it because we're going to develop affordable senior housing. and when we're looking at the budget cuts that are going to be coming to hud, we are really very concerned, because where are the people going to go? >> david, the point about churches in the city is a problem that you've actually had to -- you've seen up close. many older churches are in neighborhoods where, again, they're surrounded by regeneration, redevelopment. that land is worth a lot, and many of them have to make a decision, a business decision, not just a ministry decision, even though the two are intertwined. >> that's exactly right. and it's interesting, because

a forum we'll be having on march 23rd around developing houses of worship as catalysts of change, that's one of the ways we'll lead off the discussion -- what does it mean to be a house of worship in today's modern context when people have different concepts of being religious or spiritual, to be connected with an organized house of worship, and what does it mean if you are in a city, and all of a sudden, your neighborhood has changed and now there's more wealth and ainfluence and people who don't look like you, but also in the suburbs, where now there may be more poverty and people who don't look like you in a different context. so, what does it mean to be relevant as a house of worship? and sometimes that means that you can't just have wednesday night bible study and sunday morning or friday evening service, that you have to provide housing, you have to provide healthy food options, you have to provide retail options, that ministry of development, and that can make you more relevant and allow you to stay sometimes in a neighborhood that may have changed all around you. >> and you're actually doing that not just in d.c. >> absolutely. it's a regional

our partners. so, here, developments in virginia, the district, northern virginia, prince george's county as well as baltimore. we're doing a deep-dive collaboration with the university of baltimore with a cohort of churches who are looking to do development there. >> you're a proponent of smart growth for churches. >> smart, intentional, wise development that is thought out. people need to really not just have a vision, but do the homework, make sure there's a need for the vision that they have, and then, again, get connected to good financial development and legal partners that will help them be successful. >> okay. we'll take another break and we'll be right back.

welcome back. pastor sheppard and david bowers, can we talk for a moment about the need? there's a lot of talk about the need for affordable housing. and the cost being so, just out of, you know, the realm of the possible for the average

extremely low-income d.c. households spend more than half of their income on rent. how many people around the region are spendi like that? >> pat, you're exactly right, there are 250,000 households in the d.c. metro region using more than half their income for housing costs, including 150,000 renter households, and it's projected we'll have another 150,000 low-income households who will come to the region by 2023. so, what we see is we've got a lot of folks who are struggling day to day just to make it. they're making toxic choices about do i pay my rent or pay for health care, do i pay for food? do i get clothes for the kids? so, there's a real struggle in addition to the 12,000 folks, roughly, who are homeless in this region. so, there are literally hundreds of thousands of households in our region who are struggling every day with their housing costs. >> pastor sheppard, what are the costs like in the units that you're providing? and you

families that are trying to figure out how to fit housing into their budget. >> our one-bedrooms range from about $950 a month up to our three-bedrooms that are around $1,300 a month. and the exciting thing about trinity plaza is that it's brand-new. so, we have two-bedrooms, one-bath, two-bathrooms, two-bathroom and three-bathrooms with two-bath in there. so, our project was designed and developed for households with adults and children in them, and that's really very important. when lydia's house first got started, we used to go to a shelter for homeless families, and it would be single mothers with three and four children that were homeless, and we had to find a way to be able to provide decent and affordable housing for them. and trinity plaza is such a project, and our hope is that we will always remember that we are only as strong as our weakest family is. so, t m

affordable housing for low and very low-income households and move them along the home ownership pendulum, the better off we're going to be as a city. >> david, right now, a nice two-bedroom in the district would cost you, what, roughly $2,000 or so? >> could easily cost $2,000 a month or more. so, these are the kinds of costs that folks who are making good money can pay, which is great, which is fine, but we know that in the city and in the region, we have tens of thousands of households who can't afford what the market is creating, and so, that's why for us, working with these houses of worship, working with their development partners, non-profit developers and mission-minded for-profits, they're looking to build units of housing, homes, who will serve folks who aren't making as much money and who are just as important to our local economy and fabric of our region. it's a both/and. >> and as pastor sheppard

a lot of units are for -- well, they're condos, studios, one and two-bedrooms, but when it comes to families, there's now a focus on providing more multibedroom units. in fact, there's a bill before the council now that calls actually for study of the need for multibedroom units and requires funds to be set aside to create units with at least three bedrooms. have families been sort of left out of the equation? >> yeah, i think in the rush during the postrecession rush, where there's a boom, a lot of building going on, a lot of money, and everyone was excited -- you hear particularly government officials -- oh, great, we have got more millennials coming to the region! isn't that wonderful? and we've got a boom in building, which is all fine. but sometimes you've got to think, people do what all people do, we get older, and you start making life choices, and all of a sudden, it's not just a single 23-year-old who's got a college degree and is upwardly mobile. all of a sudden, you're 35, and now you've got a spouse, and now what do you know, you've get a kid or two kids, a

and so, as people go through that life cycle, yes, we have to be able to have housing not only for the single person who may only need a studio or the single person who's willing to double up, but also for families as well, and i think there's a recognition across the region that while the market has built for what that influx was, that there's now a recognition, we need more housing that also serves families. >> yeah. all these condos that have crowded in the district. they're very beautiful buildings. they're luxurious, many of them, but they're for one or two people. >> that's exactly right. and it serves a certain demographic, and there's an intentionality about that. so, what we at enterprise have been saying is tha we also have to be intentional about serving families and low-income households, whether it's a low-income single or a low-income household that has four or five people. there has to be the same intentionality about serving that population. >> all right. we'll be back in just a minute.

welcome back. pastor sheppard, you used to be in the city's planning and economic development office, so you know affordable housing is really no locker just an issue for low-income residents. it's a middle-class issue, it's an issue for families, seniors, and for young workers who are feeling the impact. i want to ask you about -- the mayor has gotten great reviews, grave reviews, i'm trying to say, for her commitment to try to put $100 million aside every year into a fund to provide affordable housing for residents, but she's been criticized for not being more aggressive in changing other policies, like requiring units in new private-sector buildings. what are you thoughts about that and also about spreading these units around the city, versus putting most of the affordable housing in certain places? >> well, the mayor has spo

where whatever developer developed the property, that they set aside 10% of their units for low and very low-income households, and they go through a lot of reprocess after they go through housing counseling. their names are put -- they're eligible for a lottery. and the inclusionary zoning program is for development throughout the city, so it's in every neighborhood where you see a high-rise going up. the developers are required to have units set aside for low and very low-income households. so, it's not 50% because the developers are in the business of making money through housing, but we do have some teeth in the game through the inclusionary zoning program. and $100 million beats $20 million. so, i think that we need as a city to continue to focus on that. and hindsight is 20/20 vision. next year going forward, maybe the city's coffers will be able to do $150 million through the housing production trust fund.

worship that are interested in your initiative need to do? what are the guidelines, the requirements? >> sure. all they have to do is be willing to put in their time. that's really the base. we have rkops that they need to attend, be willing to have conversations with lawyers or developers. and so, when we have these conversations that we set up, as long as they're willing to be attentive and engaged, that is it. and if they own land or they have a desire to purchase land, these are the kinds of things when we do our forum on march 23rd that we will talk about -- what is the process like when someone's trying to get involved? what do you need to do? what do you need to be willing to do as either the clergy leader or the lay leadership in the house of worship? so, those are the issues we'll get into on march 23rd. >> tell us more about march 23rd. you're celebrating your tenth anniversary. >> absolutely. we're blessed. ten years with the faith-based development initiative. on march 23rd at israel baptist church, they actually have a development that has two floors of health care and a top-floor banquet facility. so, w

anniversary celebration with a forum in the morning talking about the theme of developing faith. we'll have several panels with clergy and development consultants and others who will talk about what it means to be a house of worship in a changing context. how do you get buy-in for a development vision, and then how do you put together your team and the financing to do that kind of work. then we'll have a keynote address by reverend floyd flake who will come down from new york city, former congressman who at one point, their church was the second largest employer in the borough of queens behind the airport, has a long history of doing development. so, we'll really have a real dialogue with folks who are in the community from houses of worship, developers, bankers, government officials, to say how can we together work to address and solve this housing affordability challenge that we have in the region. so, we encourage folks to go to enterprisecommunity.org, go to the mid-atlantic page and pull up the faith-based initiative and see how to register. the forum is free. we encourage people in the community to come out, be a part of the dialogue about how to get

community-serving amenities built and developed in our region. >> and pastor sheppard, for people who need the help of lydia's house, do they simply contact the church? >> they contact lydia's house. the number is 202-373-1052, or they can go to our website, lhforus.org. >> we'll put that our our website. and is there any fee for the services? >> no. our services are completely free. people just have to register and participate, and our services are 100% free. >> all right, reverend patrice sheppard and david bowers, thanks for joining us this morning. >> thanks for having us. >> all righty. and thank you for being with us. i'm pat lawson muse. "news4 today" is next.

"news 4 today" starts now. >> right now, freezing cold, and winter storm on the way. storm team 4 tracking how you can plan for what could be our only big snowstorm this winter. >> a family now homeless, the danger as firefighters rush through the cold to put out the inferno. a violent start to sunday morning, the danger on the roads and what police are uncovering about several deadly crashes overnight. but first, 6:00, the hours went ahead, we're all a bit tired this morning. >> look how many cups of coffee i brought. >> this is what i can promise you, we will all get through this hour together. in addition to that, we have a snowstorm that we're talking about. >> that is right. we have