Harvest Tabernacle Bible Church has been central to Pastor Donald Cook II’s life since the day he was born.

Cook's father, Bishop Donald Cook Sr., founded the church in 1976 on the corner of East 55th Street and Holmes Avenue in the city of Vernon, and in 2016, Cook took over the role.

As Southern California’s housing crisis continues to fuel homelessness across the region, a number of churches, particularly Black congregations, are stepping up to build affordable housing on their church land.

From the fourth-floor rooftop patio on East Vernon Avenue, Los Angeles is a 360-degree panorama: to the north, the skyscrapers of downtown; to the south, the Palos Verdes Peninsula; to the west, the Santa Monica Mountains; to the east, snow-capped Mt. Baldy.

With COVID-19 highlighting the need for more affordable housing, local churches are stepping up with the help of LOGOS Development, a firm that has worked for nearly a decade to create an equitable and mission focused development model.

FCC and LOGOS Faith Development aid churches in transforming properties for affordable housing and community gardens