Annual Conference 2026

Annual Conference 2026

March 17 - 18, 2026

The Church Properties Initiative’s fourth annual conference in March 2026 brought together a record number of attendees for two days of conversations around the Church’s role in housing affordability. More than 200 diocesan staff, real estate professionals, nonprofit founders, government officials, researchers, and current students heard from a selection of over 60 different speakers addressing topics ranging from site design to policy innovations and financing strategies to integral ecology.

Session Recordings

Select sessions from the 2026 Church Properties Initiative annual conference are available for viewing online. Explore the full conference playlist on the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate's YouTube channel, or select an individual session to view below.

Explore the full conference playlist.

Concurrent Sessions I
Lightning Talks	Planning	Design	Case Studies
"Faith, Finances, Fraternity: A Novel Approach to Evangelizing San Francisco's Catholic Families Using Church-Owned Real Estate" Christina Sullivan, Casa Vigeo	"Building Home on Faith-Based Owned Land: Policy Approaches to Increasing Housing Supply" Helen Ketema & Jeremy Faust, NYU Furman Center	"A Design Guide for Catholic Identity & Impact in Affordable Housing" Adam Hermanson, Integration Design Group & Justin Raddatz, Catholic Charities Housing - Denver	"From Sacred Space to Civic Anchor" Ricardo Álvarez-Díaz, Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón
"Catholic Co-Living: An Affordable Solution to Build Men of Virtue" Conrad Kaminski, Petrine Properties	"DIOPA Master Plan & Development Strategies" Josh Eckert, Urban Practice & Milton Pratt, The Michaels Organization	"COEXIST - Housing in Harmony with Active Churches" Mary M. Johannesen AIA, LEED AP, Thriven Design	"Monetizing Church Land for Mission-Aligned Housing Development: Case Studies in Wisconsin and Illinois" Joe Stanton & Dan Clark, Three Leaf Partners
"Missional Hospitality: A Driver and Anchor of Affordable Community" Andrew Whaley, Calix	"Creative Solutions for Stewarding Real Estate" Matt Messier, Foundry Commercial	"Loving Our Neighbors with Affordable Housing" Michael Griffin, Saint Olaf Catholic Church, Minneapolis, MN	"Church Properties to Affordable Housing: Two Grand Rapids Examples" Kara Harrison-Gates, Plante Moran

Concurrent Sessions II
Academic Research	Integral Ecology	Community Development
"Faith and Housing First: A Multi-Method Examination of Federally Funded, Faith-Based Organizations Operating Housing First Programs" Nora Sullivan, Rutgers University	"From Climate Change Commitments to Action: Making Affordability Sustainable at Victory Housing, Inc." Todd Dorrien & Rachel Cluett, Victory Housing	"Enhancing Community Development through Digital Mapping Analysis" Andrew Moneyheffer, ADAM Architecture
"Affordable Housing: An Issue Affecting Health within the Scope of Practice for Faith Community Nursing" P. Ann Solari-Twadell, Loyola University Chicago	"Laudato Si' in Practice: Church Properties as Pollinators of Health and Community" Bryan Furze & Noah Wilson-Rich, Urban Bee Lab	"The Development of Church Property into Parish Village" Erik Bootsma, Bootsma Design
"Affordable Housing on Faith Land" Nadia Mian, Rutgers University	"Transforming Church Properties in Affordable Ways in the Spirit and Practice of Integral Ecology" Sr. Damien Marie Savino, F.S.E., University of Notre Dame	*"The Godshuis: Elder Housing as a Legacy Project"* Thomas Dougherty, Innerblock Design Studio

Concurrent Sessions III
Building & Infrastructure	Notre Dame Research Highlights	Faith-Based Development
"Improving Housing Affordability through Traditional Site and Infrastructure Design" Jacob P. Hyman, Crabtree Group, Inc.	"Studying Chicago Congregations' Survival and Transitions: Twenty-Five Year Longitudinal Analysis in the Windy City" Kraig Beyerlein & Peter Ryan, Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Notre Dame	"Using the Catholic Church's Promise, Property, Persuasion & Power: An Overview of CCUSA's Initiative to Address Homelessness and Affordable Housing" Timothy Crawl-Bey, Catholic Charities USA
"Community-Focused Affordability: Turning Church Property Into Homes of quality and Hope" Eric Benavides, Fornidos Home Systems, Inc.	"Preserving Ireland's Sacred Heritage: A Student Researcher's Reflections on the PARISH Project" Matthew Scherber, University of Notre Dame	"Financing Church Property Redevelopment and Affordable Housing: Lessons from Fieldworks and Common Grace Church" Mark Elsdon, RootedGood
"Affordable Homeownership to Close the Wealth Gap" Bernard Phanord, Collective Empowerment Group	"Integration of Historic Stained Glass & Sacred Objects into New School Buildings" Brian Couch & Mark Andrade, Seton Schools	"Enterprise Faith-Based Development Initiative: Year 20 Lessons Learned for a Growing National Movement" David Bowers, Enterprise Community Partners & Patrick Jordan, Heron Community Consulting, Inc.

View All Session Recordings

See all posted recordings of 2026 conference keynote, plenaries, and breakout sessions on FIRE's YouTube channel.

Check out the playlist.

Church Properties Initiative

Annual Conference 2026