rev. carlton rhoden

The “Yes! In God’s Backyard” approach to affordable housing

“Here is the church, here is the steeple; open the doors, and … wait a second — the people have been priced out of the neighborhood,” the Rev. Sara Hayden said in her introduction to a recent episode of the “New Way” podcast. “Affordable housing is just one of the vexing challenges facing communities today,” Hayden, an associate in the 1001 New Worshiping Communities Movement, said before introducing two pastors in the Los Angeles area who are examining the complexities around affordable housing and finding local solutions. In the two-part series produced by the Rev. Marthame Sanders, Hayden sat down with the Rev. Carlton Rhoden, a longtime community organizer and pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, and the Rev. Victor Cyrus-Franklin, is the supervising pastor for affordable housing development of Inglewood First United Methodist church and is the newly appointed senior pastor of Holman United Methodist Church.