Some recent estimates<\/a> suggest the state needs about 1.3 million more affordable rental homes to meet the current demand for housing.<\/p>\n ![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784252296_538_.jpeg\"\/)
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Cresencio Rodriguez Delgado <\/p>\n
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KVPR <\/p>\n
The West Side Church of God in Fresno, Calif., provides a space for community needs like weddings, funerals, food distribution and worship. <\/p>\n
Churches often have thousands of acres of underutilized land. Some use it to build coffee houses, sports complexes, or thrift stores.<\/p>\n
As the state\u2019s housing challenges creep into an already struggling area of Fresno, helping to house seniors on fixed incomes makes sense, Walker said. The senior ministry is also the most active at the church.<\/p>\n
One of the largest investors of the project in Fresno is the city itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to create a place where [seniors] could age in place with dignity and affordability. They wouldn’t have the threat of being displaced or evicted,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n
Meeting needs for seniors<\/p>\n
On a one-acre lot behind the church, the Southwest Fresno CDC along with several of its partners plan to eventually build 21 affordable units. The housing will be open to any senior on fixed income in Fresno County who applies.<\/p>\n
The average cost of the homes will be at or below around $750 a month. The first few cottages will be ready by early 2027.<\/p>\n
Pastor Paul Binion oversees the West Side Church of God. He laments that many seniors are having to spend what little money they have on rent. He calls it the \u201crent burden\u201d problem. That\u2019s where residents are spending more than 30 percent of their entire income just on rent.<\/p>\n
Binion said seniors often pay much more than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seniors who are trying to make it off $1,800 a month of social security, and then pay $1,500 a month for rent \u2013 you can\u2019t live like that,\u201d Binion said.<\/p>\n
Binion is the longest serving pastor in Fresno. The housing project, which will be named \u201cBinion Cottages,\u201d is named after him.<\/p>\n
He has seen how many of the city\u2019s problems have begun to slowly be addressed over time. But he said more community resources are needed to meet the needs of his community. He draws from his faith to reach out with what he can.<\/p>\n
![\"Pastor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784252297_399_.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Cresencio Rodriguez Delgado <\/p>\n
\/<\/p>\n
KVPR <\/p>\n
Pastor Paul Binion is one of the longest serving pastors in Fresno. He says churches must do more to help their communities. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Bible is very clear that we are to love all peoples and care for people. And use the resources we have to help people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The affordable housing project on church land is a new idea in Fresno County. Allysunn Walker of the Southwest Fresno Community Development Corporation said that she has already been asked to help out with similar projects.<\/p>\n
But she insists she wants to get the project off the ground first, as well as start a bigger conversation around affordable housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re happy to be the first, but we don\u2019t want to be the last,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her nonprofit is not a religious organization. And people who will soon live on the church property don\u2019t have to be members of the church. But Walker knows none of that is the point. Instead, the project is about finding ways to give someone in need a place to live.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I see homeless people on the street, it breaks my heart,\u201d Walker said. \u201c[With] our elders, we felt that we could do something specifically for them and allow them to approach the end of their life with dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. \u2013 Allysunn Walker often hears that her community wasn\u2019t \u201cleft behind,\u201d but rather \u201ckept behind.\u201d That\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401610,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[380,161158,7,7323,1815,58147,161159,112,114,113,457,1011,1510],"class_list":["post-401609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-affordable-housing","tag-affordable-housing-on-faith-and-higher-education-lands-act","tag-california","tag-church","tag-college","tag-empty","tag-fixed-income","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-housing","tag-land"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}