Pastor David Brawley leads St. Paul Community Baptist Church in East New York, Brooklyn. He watches as Black families in his congregation struggle with rising costs and leave New York City.
Many of these families are city workers like bus drivers and teachers who helped build the city but can no longer afford to live there. Pastor Brawley has a plan to stop this exodus by creating affordable housing. His church has already helped develop subsidized homes and apartments in their neighborhood.
Some church members have been lucky enough to get these affordable homes through a lottery system. Others are still deciding whether to stay and fight rising rents or move to cheaper cities like Atlanta. The pastor believes the church must do more than just feed and clothe people - it must ask why people are poor and demand that elected officials make life more affordable.
The congregation is divided between those who won affordable housing, those struggling with high costs, and those who already moved away but still join church services online. This story shows how faith communities are fighting to keep their members from being priced out of the cities they helped build.