Gwinnett eyes church land as space to build runs out

Gwinnett County is down to 9% undeveloped land, and county planners say they will go straight to churches in 2027 about building affordable housing on land the churches don’t use.

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Matt Elder, deputy director of Gwinnett County Planning and Development, said several churches reached out this year and those talks are still going.

“But we’ll be ongoing with that and really stepping it up in 2027 in terms of a more targeted approach to a number of different partners that have identified an interest in this,” Elder said.

The idea came up Nov. 2 at a town hall on hidden homelessness hosted by District 3 Commissioner Jasper Watkins III. A leader with Family Promise of Gwinnett County asked whether anyone was reaching out to churches with undeveloped land.

“So there hasn’t been a consolidated effort,” said Eric Osakowski with Gwinnett County. “I would look for something in that realm coming within the next year or so.”

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Elder said the county rezoned an old athletic field behind a former United Methodist church on Jimmy Carter Boulevard for possible apartments, and it has applied for a low-income housing tax credit.

In Peachtree Corners, the Gwinnett Housing Corporation turned an extended stay hotel into apartments for seniors and young adults in under two years.

“This type of project, and I said it during the ribbon cutting, it takes a village,” said Karen Ramsey with the Gwinnett Housing Corporation.

A county homelessness task force expects to send its recommendations to commissioners by the middle of next year, Elder said.

“The one thing we don’t want to do is ever stop evolving how we approach housing and how we look for those different kinds of solutions,” Elder said.

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