Overture 04-22. On Creating a Fund to Provide Shared Equity Loans for Pastors Serving Churches Where the Average Cost of a Home Is Twice the U.S. Average—From the Presbytery of San Francisco.

The Presbytery of San Francisco overtures the 216th General Assembly (2004) to do the following:

1. Create a fund that would provide shared equity loans for the purchase of homes by pastors who are serving churches located in areas where the average cost of home ownership is at least twice the average of home ownership in the United States.

2. Encourage the Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation to commit 1 percent of their funds to this fund, as a real estate investment.

3. Create a mechanism that would evaluate the program after five years.

4. Create a General Assembly task force to develop recommendations that implement the above, consisting of representatives appointed by the Board of Pensions, the Foundation, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Investment & Loan Program, and the presbyteries wherein the average cost of home ownership is two times the national average.

5. Direct that each entity underwrite the expenses of their task force members.

6. Direct the task force to report to the General Assembly Council within one year with recommendations that would implement the plan.

Rationale

In presbyteries such as the Presbytery of San Francisco, medium and small churches often have pastoral searches that last longer than two years because of the inability to attract pastors to move to the area due to the high cost of home ownership. In October 2003, the median price home in the San Francisco seven county area (four of which comprise the Presbytery of San Francisco) was $466,000. The median price home in the United States at that time was $172,000 (November 23, 2003, San Francisco Chronicle).

Additionally, pastors who rent homes and then decide to purchase homes often are required to purchase homes that have 1½ to 2 hours commute time to their churches. Both of these situations negatively affect the quality of pastoral leadership in medium and small churches. Creating a shared equity loan program would eliminate these problems.

The return on these investments would accrue to the Board of Pensions and the Foundation, thereby enhancing their return on real estate investments.