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PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Every night many in Portland’s homeless community struggle to find a place to sleep. As cities and counties attempt to address the problem, one particular segment of the population is stepping up to help in a big way.

One part of the solution to tackle homelessness is creating affordable housing, which requires land, which is where churches and faith communities are stepping in. As some of the biggest landowners in the state, they are leveraging their power to help.

Army veteran John Brister moved into his one-bedroom apartment a few months ago after being in temporary housing after 11 years on the streets. He lives next to Portsmouth Union Church and has been contemplating going over to visit.

In a general way, Brister knows church members helped to provide the affordable housing he lives in.

Julia Nielsen was a pastor at the church as it struggled to build the 20-unit affordable housing complex. The church worked with lawmakers to get state law and city code changed. In 2021 the legislature helped clear the way with Senate Bill 8 that required cities to authorize affordable housing projects on certain land not zoned for residential use.

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Multiple groups spent Saturday handing out water and checking on unhoused people as the metro area swelters under an excessive heat emergency until Tuesday.

Nielsen left her job at the church and now works full-time with an organization that guides congregations through the process of building affordable housing.

Christ United Methodist Church in Cedar Mill just completed a $23 million 54-unit affordable housing campus on church property off Northwest Saltzman Road.

Financed in part by Metro Bond Funds, Washington County Funds, and private loans. The building will offer low rents which tenants can pay in part through government-issued vouchers. The church co-owns the property with the developer.

“60-70 percent of our properties are ripe for this kind of development opportunities to partner with municipalities and developers who are interested in solving this housing crisis,” said Bishop Cedrick Bridgeforth for the United Methodist Church.

At the last check, Nielsen said she has 82 church properties enquiring about building, and 12 are active construction sites, representing 450 soon-to-be-available housing units.

“I believe faith communities and not just Christian faith communities we have Jewish faith communities Buddhist temples across the state who have been doing this work I believe faith communities can solve the housing crisis. At least the land lack crisis the governor has been talking about,” said Nielsen.

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At least 10 people lost their homes after a fire gutted a duplex in Hillsboro Monday night.

Developers like Home First specialize in helping faith communities navigate the complicated process of building affordable housing.

“I don’t know anywhere else I would want to do this job other than Oregon we’ve got such a supportive legislature and governor’s office – every jurisdiction across the state is saying we want affordable housing and what incentives can we do to make this work,” said Ben Pray the CEO of Home First Development Partners.

Brister knows that he is the beneficiary of the work of many people, he has gained a home, but he said the process has taught him gratitude.

“I couldn’t understand what that was until I started experiencing things that allowed me to be grateful – and it was like oh that’s what they meant,” said Brister.

One of the challenges the faith communities are facing now is pre-development costs.

FOX 12 was told that it costs $25,000 to $150,000 to determine if a piece of land is suitable for building, and many congregations do not have the money to pay for it.