OILDALE, Calif. — The church on Oildale Drive and Minner Avenue has stood on the corner since 1954, built after an earthquake damaged the Oildale Church of Christ's building. Since then, the church has passed through a variety of 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, an unincorporated town north of Bakersfield, borders the Kern River Oil Field, one of the largest active oil fields in California. The town was founded in the early 1900s as workers flooded into the area to work the oil rigs. It's where musicians Buck Owens and Merle Haggard were raised and shaped.

Today, the barren hills of the Kern River Oil Field are still peppered with working rigs. But Oildale, population 36,000, has largely stagnated. Nearly a third of its residents live in poverty, and community leaders grapple with high rates of opioid addiction, dilapidated housing and commercial vacancies. The church is nestled in a quiet neighborhood of modest homes with overgrown yards and bleached white fences.

The housing authority, a county agency charged with creating affordable housing opportunities, saw potential in the building's graceful touches and sturdy walls. Its Sunday school classrooms could become studio and one-bedroom units for former foster youth still struggling to get their footing. The chapel, with its stained glass window, soft-lit chandeliers and walls adorned with hand-written Bible verses, could be converted into a community room. So, over the course of two years, the church was given a second life.

"It's been an anchor for the neighborhood for a number of years and went through different phrases, and is now in a completely different phase," said Stephen M. Pelz, executive director of the housing authority. "Oftentimes when you get vacant buildings that aren't sold right away, they end up having issues or vandalism, or catching fire. It was nice to be able to preserve the building."

With funding from Project Homekey, the state's multibillion-dollar 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 extensive renovation, the site reopened in January as the Project Cornerstone housing complex.

Today, the hallways smell faintly of fresh paint, and all 19 air-conditioned units are occupied by young residents also getting a fresh start.

About a mile away in a commercial strip, the housing authority is attempting another novel do-over: converting a former doctor's office — that also had a stint as a tattoo parlor — into 15 units of housing. The project is in a tumbledown section of Oildale, situated between an optical lens store and aquatic pet shop. The storefront being converted had been vacant for years.

"It was really just awful, an eyesore for the whole community," said Randy Martin, chief executive of Covenant Community Services, a nonprofit community group that will manage the two locations.

The housing authority purchased the storefront for $510,000 in 2022. As renovations began, Martin said, the group dealt with drug addicts breaking in, stealing appliances and starting fires behind the building.

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