Campus ministry partners convert congregation's office building into student housing

Six college students are preparing to move into new apartments in a former office building at Redeemer Episcopal Church in Jacksonville, Florida, after the church and its ecumenical partners converted the building to living space in response to a local housing shortage.

The project was spearheaded by Jacksonville Campus Ministry, a partnership of congregations from seven denominations, including Redeemer. The Episcopal congregation is closest to the University of North Florida, about five miles away, and employs Sarah Locke as a chaplain for university students. Locke also serves as pastor of Jacksonville Campus Ministry.

Locke has seen the effects of the affordable housing shortage firsthand. “I had known students who were sleeping in cars because it was much cheaper to pay for a parking ticket than to pay rent,” Locke said, adding that the university’s campus housing waiting list was 300 names long at the beginning of the last academic year.