Walking past empty pews and stained-glass windows, the Rev Victor Cyrus-Franklin, pastor of Inglewood First United Methodist Church in Inglewood, California, talked about how housing prices were threatening his flock.

Congregants were being priced out of the neighbourhood, he said. Many of those who remained were too burdened by rent to give to the church.

So the church is trying to help – by building housing.

Early next year, Inglewood First United Methodist is scheduled to begin construction on 60 studio apartments that will replace three empty buildings behind its chapel that, until a few years ago, were occupied by a school.

Half of the units will be reserved for older adults. All of them will have rents below the market rate.

Inglewood First United Methodist is one of a growing number of churches, mosques and synagogues that has started developing low-cost housing on their properties. In interviews, faith leaders said they hoped to help with the growing housing and homeless problems that were most acute in California but have spread across the country. Virtually every major religious tradition teaches the importance of helping those in need; the idea fits the mission.

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But it can also be lucrative. In Los Angeles and around the country, faith organisations are often on prime urban land that sits smack in the middle of residential neighbourhoods or along major corridors.

Today, with Americans of all persuasions worshipping less, these properties are frequently ageing and underutilised, pocked by empty parking lots and meeting halls where nobody meets. By redeveloping their property into affordable housing, congregations hope to create a stream of rental revenue that can replace declining income and lower membership numbers.

These initiatives are also helping to bring lower-cost housing to neighbourhoods where it is close to non-existent.

In order to encourage these projects, California legislators passed SB 4 last year. The law allows non-profit colleges and faith-based institutions to build up to 30 units per acre in major cities and urban suburbs regardless of local zoning rules and also fast-tracks their approval – so long as 100 per cent of the units are affordable housing with below market-rate rents.

Bills that change zoning laws are notoriously divisive, pitting neighbourhoods and environmental groups against real estate developers. But SB 4 skirted many of the usual battles by uniting faith groups with affordable housing developers, which made for an unusually powerful coalition. NYTIMES