The church, located at Oildale Drive and Miner Street, has been on the corner since 1954, and was built after an earthquake destroyed the building of the Oildale Church of Christ. Since then, the church went through various denominations and congregations until it was abandoned in 2021.
But the Kern County Housing Authority saw another life for the church building, in an often overlooked area of the county. Oildale is an unincorporated town north of Bakersfield, bordering the Kern River Oil Field, one of the largest active oil fields in California. The city was founded in the early 1900s when workers flocked to the area to work on oil rigs. It's where musicians Buck Owens and Merle Haggard grew up and formed.
Today, the barren hills of the Kern River Oil Field are still filled with working rigs. But Oildale, with a population of 36,000, is largely stagnant. Nearly a third of its population lives in poverty, and community leaders struggle with high rates of opioid addiction, dilapidated housing, and vacant commercial jobs. The church is located in a quiet neighborhood of modest homes with oversized yards and white picket fences.
The Housing Authority, a county agency charged with creating affordable housing opportunities, saw potential in the building's beautiful accents and sturdy walls. Sunday school classrooms can become studio and one-bedroom units for former foster youth who are still struggling to get their footing. The church, with its stained glass windows, softly lit chandeliers and walls decorated with handwritten Bible verses, can be converted into a community room. So, over the course of two years, the church was given a second life.
Isabel Medina is the site manager and resident at Project Cornerstone. Like other young residents, she had previously been in a foster care ward and was struggling to find stable work and housing after exiting the system.
(Brian Van Der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Stephen M. said: “It's been an anchor for the neighborhood for several years, and it's gone through different idiosyncrasies, and now it's in a completely different phase,” Bales, the housing authority's executive director, said. “A lot of times when you get vacant buildings that don't sell right away, they end up having problems, vandalism or catching fire. It was nice to be able to keep the building.”
Funded by Project Homekey, a multi-billion-dollar state effort to convert dilapidated motels and commercial properties into supportive housing, and in partnership with Covenant Community Services, the authority purchased the church from Shekinah Ministries in 2022 for $1.5 million. After an extensive renovation, the site reopened in January as an apartment complex for the Cornerstone project.
Today, the smell of fresh paint wafts from the hallways, and all 19 air-conditioned units are occupied by young residents who have also made a fresh start.
About a mile away in a commercial strip, the Housing Authority is trying another new operation: converting a former doctor's office — which also operated as a tattoo parlor — into 15 housing units. The project is located in a run-down section of Oildale, sandwiched between an optical lens store and an aquatic pet store. The converted storefront had been vacant for years.
“It was really terrible, and it was an eyesore for the entire community,” said Randy Martin, CEO of Covenant Community Services, a nonprofit community group that will manage the two sites.
The housing authority bought the storefront for $510,000 in 2022. As renovations began, Martin said, the group dealt with drug addicts who broke into the building, stealing appliances and setting fires behind the building.
However, the project is moving forward. Each unit will have a doorbell, space for a bed and a kitchen. The plan includes a front courtyard where residents can relax and socialize.
Housing in the church complex is open to young people aged 18 to 25, who have aged out of the foster care system, along with their spouses and children. The referral doctor's office is for previously adopted youth between the ages of 18 and 21. Tenants pay rent as they can, on a sliding fee scale, and utilities are covered.
Subsidies and maintenance will be covered by a combination of rental income and state and local funding for rental assistance, Bales said.
Allen Klein, a former foster youth, lives in a small but tidy apartment in the Cornerstone project. This is the first time in years that he has his own bathroom.
(Brian Van Der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
When he moved into the converted church on Oildale Drive, Allen Klein, 22, was the only person who lived there for about two weeks. After months of construction, the church began to “settle,” and at night the creaking of pipes and floorboards could be heard.
A Texas native, Klein wandered around foster homes as a child. Before coming to the church, he stayed in a sober house with 12 other men. They shared a single refrigerator, cramped bathrooms, and limited parking space.
Klein in the church has a studio equipped with a microwave, stove and refrigerator. He has his own bathroom for the first time in years. His room — the space that was used for cassette recordings of weekly sermons — is located on the second floor and has a skylight that allows natural light to flow in.
Al'Lyn Cline stores his shoes in a neat line in his apartment.
(Brian Van Der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
“It's really deep, and it has its own uniqueness,” Klein said of the setting.
Klein, a Christian, feels connected to the church in a religious sense as well. He tries to respect the building, and knows its history as a place of worship.
Randy Martin is CEO of Covenant Community Services, a community group that manages the Cornerstone Project.
(Brian Van Der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
The Cornerstone Project is one of a series of recent efforts by Kern County to create affordable, supportive housing options for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness. Those who work with foster youth know well that housing instability is a risk they face as they age out of the system.
The county's 2023 census found 1,948 people lacked permanent housing, according to the Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative. About 48% of the population has been sheltered, a number trending upward as the county expands emergency shelters and transitional housing initiatives. About 120 of the homeless people counted were people under 24 years old.
Martin, of Covenant Community Services, said the housing project “stems the tide of homelessness among foster youth.” Case managers and mentors are assigned to residents to help them find educational and employment opportunities, and they can learn job skills in the organization's café.
Isabel Medina, left, watches her daughter as she walks toward program director Samantha Imhoff Tran. Rosalinda celebrated her second birthday at the Cornerstone Project, with a party in the old church.
(Brian Van Der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
Isabel Medina, 23, is the site manager and resident of the Project Cornerstone complex. At the age of 13, she was removed from an abusive home and placed in foster care. For years, she moved between foster families before exiting the system at 18 years old. She struggled to maintain a stable job, working in the fields, at a mall, at Goodwill. She was homeless twice, and slept in her car for four months. At the age of 21, she became pregnant with her daughter, Rosalinda.
With the assistance of Covenant Community Services Program Manager, Samantha Imhoff-Tran, Medina was appointed as the on-site manager on the Cornerstone Project.
Rosalinda celebrated her second birthday there in December, with a party in the old church. A stained-glass picture depicting a shepherd illuminated the room. With a quick smile and loud laugh, the 2-year-old ran up and down the stairs and danced on the stage, Medina said.
“It definitely can be scary, especially at night when I have to check all the doors and make sure everything is secure,” Medina said. “But when you fill that room, it's so hopeful and so magical at the same time.”
