Bread of Life Unveils YIGBY Supportive Housing Facility

One of Houston’s best-known YIGBY developers teased plans for another project.

Bread of Life Incorporated, a charitable organization associated with Beyoncé’s former church in Houston, plans to start work next month on The Weirton, a seven-story, 99-unit supportive housing facility to be constructed at 3208 Austin Street, according to a project filing submitted to the state. The 82,000-square-foot building is scheduled for completion in September 2027, and the estimated cost of construction is $20 million, or about $202,000 per unit. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Filings are preliminary and subject to change.

The Midtown development will include 3,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, some outdoor space, dining areas and 65 parking lots, according to Bread of Life’s website.

Executive leaders of Bread of Life could not be reached for comment.

The 0.4-acre lot has a 1913 home that underwent some remodeling for a commercial use conversion in 2007, according to the Harris County Appraisal District, which values the property at $1.2 million for tax purposes. Bread of Life Incorporated bought the property in 2024 for an undisclosed price, public records show.

Bread of Life was founded by former pastors of St. John’s Downtown Church, where Beyoncé attended as a child, its website claims.

The Weirton is Bread of Life’s fifth project in the Houston area, according to its website. In 2006, another entity in the Bread of Life network developed Knowles Temenos Place Apartments, a homeless shelter intended to support people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, in partnership with the pop star. Beyoncé also lent her support to the Knowles-Rowland House project at the Bread of Life gymnasium at 2019 Crawford Street, a 31-unit supportive housing project funded in part by American Rescue Plan funds in 2023.

Other Houston projects taking shape on church-owned land — a trend dubbed “Yes in God’s Backyard” — include Trinity East Village Senior Apartments, a 90-unit development in the Third Ward neighborhood by Trinity East United Methodist Church that’s scheduled for completion in October 2027. Elsewhere in the state, a student housing developer plans to replace a Baptist church building near Baylor University in Waco with a seven-story project.