A Newark congregation that has long advocated for people who are homeless or housing insecure is considering its boldest action yet — turning its own Main Street church property into an affordable housing complex.
New Ark United Church of Christ’s proposal is still in its infancy. Broadly speaking, though, the congregation would partner with a private developer who would demolish the existing church and build a multistory building in its place. The first floor would house the church’s sanctuary, offices and other spaces, while the upper floors would be apartments.
“There are people who work in downtown Newark who can’t afford to live in downtown Newark,” said the Rev. Cynthia Robinson. “I see this as an opportunity to provide that, for people who work in Newark and for people who can’t afford to live anywhere because they need assistance.”
The housing would be a mix of low and moderate-income residents, enforced with income limits similar to how the Newark Housing Authority works. The church would also look to partner with a nonprofit that can help residents access other needed services.
The nearly one-acre church property at 300 E. Main St. is within walking distance to Newark Shopping Center, The Grove at Newark and Newark Transit Hub, plus all the downtown restaurants and shops. It is also in close proximity to the Main Towers senior complex and the soon-to-be-rebuilt Newark Housing Authority complex, meaning it could become part of a growing affordable housing hub at the east end of Main Street.
“We’re in a great location for this,” Robinson said.
The church, too, would benefit from having a new facility to replace its aging building. The church moved there in the 1990s, and the building was previously home to the Newark Senior Center and the city’s waterworks prior to that.
“Having a newer space is always a boon to a congregation so that you’re not spending all your time on maintenance,” Robinson said.
The new facility would be used for other purposes, too, just as the existing church is.
“It can be church on Sundays, but it can be a community center any other day of the week,” Robinson said.
New Ark UCC has a strong history of advocacy and action on affordable housing, Robinson noted. The church used to run a transitional house for homeless families, and members routinely volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. Over the past couple years, affordable housing has been a focus of the Newark interfaith group, made up of many local churches including New Ark UCC.
The idea of building an affordable housing complex came up as congregants talked about what else they could do to tackle the issue. Robinson said she has heard about other congregations that donated their property for use as housing once the church closes.
“We’re still going strong and thought maybe this is a way we can contribute to the community,” she said.
A recent poll of the congregation found that 90 percent are interested in at least further discussing whether such a project is feasible.
The biggest stumbling block right now is determining if the property can support a multistory apartment building. It is believed to contain two underground cisterns leftover from the waterworks that were filled in decades ago.
The church can’t afford to fund an engineering study, but Mayor Jerry Clifton is proposing that the city use up to $125,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to complete the study. City council will vote on the idea in the coming weeks.
“This is important enough to drive this issue forward to see if this is the shape of the future for affordable housing for Newark,” Clifton said.
City officials have had many discussions about affordable housing initiatives in the past couple years, including whether the city should be directly involved in such a project. The difficulty there is the cost of acquiring land, making a partnership with an entity that already owns land downtown the most feasible solution, Clifton said.
Robinson concurred.
“I know the city wants to move forward with affordable housing, but I don’t know how they’re going to be able to do that without organizations like ours and like other nonprofits who own their property and are willing to go into partnership and collaborate with the city on this,” she said.
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