Churches Find End Is Nigh: Religious Facilities Unable to Pay Mortgage

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Churches Find End Is Nigh

The Number of Religious Facilities Unable to Pay Their Mortgage Is Surging
By SHELLY BANJO

ROSEVILLE, Calif.—Residential and commercial real-estate owners aren't the only ones losing their properties to foreclosure. The past few years have seen a rapid acceleration in the number of churches losing their sanctuaries because they can't pay the mortgage.

Just as homeowners borrowed too much or built too big during boom times, many churches did the same and now are struggling as their congregations shrink and collections fall owing to rising unemployment and a weak economy.

Since 2008, nearly 200 religious facilities have been foreclosed on by banks, up from eight during the previous two years and virtually none in the decade before that, according to real-estate services firm CoStar Group, Inc. Analysts and bankers say hundreds of additional churches face financial struggles so severe they could face foreclosure or bankruptcy in the near future.

"Churches are the next wave in this economic crisis," says Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Sr., president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a non-profit civil-rights group, who works with pastors around the country to help churches negotiate better terms with their bankers.

[Lance_Boyle]

1. Not a crisis. This is a boon to every municipality that could reap property tax $

from land currently occupied by taxpayer-subsidized god-bothering facilities.

[Bandit]

2. Let "God's Will" be done..

Surely they can't complain about "God's Will"....

[RedCloud]

3. Leave by the get rich sword, die by the get rich sword.