This Pre-Feasibility Framework for Facilitators Working with Faith-Based Organizations is designed to support early, values-based conversations about housing and land redevelopment before any technical or financial commitments are made.
Developed by SFU Renewable Cities in collaboration with CMHC’s Expert Community on Housing’s Faith-Based Housing Development Community of Practice, the framework recognizes that decisions about church and faith-owned land are not only technical, but deeply relational, spiritual, and historical. It equips facilitators to walk alongside congregations and faith-based organizations as they discern whether — and how — housing development might align with their mission, capacity, and responsibilities to their neighbours and the land.
Rather than assuming that housing is the inevitable outcome, the framework focuses on pre-feasibility: the early stage where organizations build shared understanding, assess readiness, clarify motivations, and explore possibilities without pressure to proceed. It offers practical guidance on housing types, development timelines, partnership and ownership models, and long-term operational realities, while also naming common misconceptions that can place organizations at risk if left unexamined.
Pre-feasibility framework
The first phase of this work includes a Pre-feasibility framework for facilitators working with faith-based organizations. The framework is for facilitators who work with faith-based organizations (FBOs) in the pre-feasibility stage of housing development.
Key sections include:
- Roles, responsibilities and best practices for facilitators working with FBOs
- Building knowledge and understanding of housing development
- Assessing organizational capacity, health and motivations
- Building a shared project vision
- Building internal development capacity
The framework features:
- Discussion questions for facilitators to ask FBOs to help them assess readiness, explore motivations and evaluate organizational systems and capacity
- Common misconceptions about housing development and facilitator strategies to address them
- A curated list of resources, including guides, case studies, courses and tools for both facilitators and FBOs to prepare for developing and operating housing on their land
