Evangelical Churches Build an Affordable Rental Network
Spain's Evangelical Alliance will coordinate emergency funds, empty apartments and support teams for 150 families starting in February 2027.
"Two or three months without paying is enough to start an eviction," Pedro Tarquis of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance warns in comments to The Objective. The organization is launching Bajo su higuera ("Under Their Fig Tree"), an affordable rental network meant to support 150 families.
Coordinating what churches already do
The initiative doesn't start from scratch. Food banks, clothing closets and rent assistance are part of the work many congregations have sustained for years, The Objective reported. What's new is the scale: the Spanish Evangelical Alliance (AEE) wants to bring churches, social organizations, lawyers, social workers, business owners and landlords into a single network. The first meeting is scheduled for February 6, 2027, in Madrid, as part of the 150th anniversary of an organization founded in 1877. The goal is to support 150 families over the course of that year. Tarquis described the initial response to the project as encouraging.
A fund for the months that don't add up
Money is the first piece. Each church or organization would create its own emergency fund, with evaluation, administration and follow-up criteria adapted to its own situation. The scenarios the organization cites are everyday ones: a layoff, an illness, a separation. Any of them can leave a household without enough income for rent for months, and that is exactly the margin that separates a passing hardship from an eviction order.
«A church with empty spaces and families in a bind has an unanswered question.»
Alongside the fund come people. Support teams would step in the moment a family receives the notice, to find legal advice, open a dialogue with the landlord and connect the tenant with social services, Tarquis explained to The Objective. That same team gives the landlord someone to talk to about missed payments. The AEE maintains that protecting the tenant and the owner's legal security must go together.
Empty apartments and owners who adjust the price
The second path doesn't ask for money: it asks you to look at what already exists. The proposal is to review underused spaces owned by evangelical churches and organizations and study whether any could serve as temporary housing. Tarquis mentioned former pastors' homes, apartments attached to church buildings and other rooms that are barely used. No space would be approved without a technical and legal review, with urban planning advice. The criterion, he said, is not to offer just any space, but a place in decent condition.
To those who own a home, the AEE makes an appeal: rent it at reasonable prices. As a reference, it points to Vecindad Inclusiva ("Inclusive Neighborhood"), a program of Diaconía España that helps people who are outside the housing market, or about to be, gain access to housing. The program guides owners through rental matters and follows up on both the homes and the people. Diaconía, linked to FEREDE, has more than 700 shelter places for applicants and beneficiaries of international protection in Spain.
"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?" (1 John 3:17, ESV). The apostle doesn't ask for a national plan; he asks you to open what is already in your hands. A church with empty spaces and families in a bind has an unanswered question.
This week you can do something small and concrete: ask at your church what space is empty and what it could be used for. If you work in law or social work, or you have free hours, the network that is starting to form needs people like you. Which space in your congregation could one day be someone's home?
