About five years ago Harvey Vaughn, senior pastor of Bethel AME, San Diego’s oldest black church, heard a radio report about the growing homelessness in his city. He wondered if his congregation, which owns about 7,000-square-feet of space, could help.
Today, the lot is a construction site for a new housing complex that will offer 25 one-bedroom apartments for low-income seniors and veterans. This is the first of what is hoped to be many such projects led by a group in San Diego YIGBYWhich stands for Yes in God’s Backyard, a spin on the pro-housing Yes in My Backyard movement.
In a country with a shortage of affordable homes and a surplus of religious institutions grappling with rising costs and declining membership, developers are looking to partner with churches, temples and synagogues to build new housing. And amid a thicket of local land-use regulations that complicate construction, some elected officials are looking for ways to advance these efforts.
The concept of YIGBY – working with faith-based groups to help address the housing crisis – originated from local advocates who were interested in getting homeless people off the streets into housing but couldn’t find any. The San Diego Association of Governments estimates San Diego County has a shortage of about 100,000 homes.
Dedicated local funds Solving Homelessness YIGBY helped bring the concept to life, and New zoning laws approved in 2019 Removing requirements that developers first seek approval to build from local planning agencies or select boards helped streamline the process.
“Here in San Diego, yes, we have concerned neighbors and anti-development people who are concerned about the ‘character’ of the community and all that stuff, but the city has really done a lot of development. [easier] Over the past five years,” Evan Gerber, housing project manager at YIGBY, told Vox.
Now the model is poised to spread across California, helping to address the state’s severe housing shortage.
Last year California’s legislature passed the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, which, like in San Diego, streamlines the approval of new projects on church-owned land, so housing can no longer be blocked by zoning or environmental objections. The first such YIGBY Act took effect in January
The Turner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley estimates that across California there are roughly 38,800 acres of land owned by faith-based institutions which could potentially be developed into affordable housing.
State Sen. Scott Winer, a Democrat from San Francisco who spearheaded the statewide YIGBY Act, said California doesn’t yet have data on how the new law is being used, but he often hears from interested people who say their congregations are preparing to do it.
“Even if only 10 percent of the plots identified by Turner do that, it could lead to massive housing growth,” Weiner told Vox. “Overall it’s very, very popular and you can really build a hugely diverse political coalition around it.”
Weiner identified the impetus for the YIGBY concept as real. The model appears to not only give communities a way to address their housing and homelessness crises, but also a way for faith-based institutions to embody their religious teachings in practice while managing declining membership and rising costs.
Only 47 percent of Americans in 2020 Report included to places of worship, down from 50 percent in 2018 and 70 percent in 1999. the americans Becoming less religious overall, and even among those still familiar with the faith, many switched permanently to remote and online services during the pandemic. Meanwhile, overheads for operating foundations and buildings on religious properties have increased, today with higher costs for repairs, insurance and utilities. To boot: Grants are down. A survey found 65 percent of the US church Since Covid-19, the amount of contributions has decreased.
Experts predict that one-third of all these vacant houses of worship in the United States will close within the next few years or so. 100,000 Churches, synagogues and mosques. In hot real estate markets, some religious institutions can sell their properties for millions of dollars in cash, but in many other locales, finding buyers is not so easy. Flooding of large, empty buildings can cause real damage to communities, especially in small towns where the structures have long served as central civic anchors. Gary, Indiana, for example, has 67,000 residents and 250 empty churches.
Although San Diego coined (and trademarked) the term YIGBY, the concept has spread across the country, sparking interest from local, state and federal governments.
In March, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown launched Yes to God’s Backyard Act Help support these projects nationwide in Congress. The legislation would provide technical assistance to religious institutions and local governments and create new grants to address barriers to housing development.
“This bill is a commonsense solution — families need more housing they can afford, and churches, synagogues and other religious organizations want to exercise their faith by building housing on land they already own,” Sen. Brown told Vox. “By helping these institutions cut red tape, we can lower housing costs and expand options for families in Ohio and across the country.”
A ripe moment for a good idea
Offering shelter or building housing on church property isn’t exactly a new concept, but a confluence of trends has picked up steam over the past half-decade.
“The Roman Catholic church and other Christian churches in the United States have a long tradition of trying to provide for those without housing, but where you see something different right now is a larger social conversation in the United States about housing access and lack. Housing writ large, said Reverend Patrick ReidyProfessor of Law and Co-Director of the School at the University of Notre Dame Church features initiatives.
Carolyn BrownA DC land use attorney, said Real Estate Publication Business That declining church membership has really fueled faith-based leaders’ interest in housing. “It became a breaking point,” he said.
Today more cities and states are looking to support these YIGBY housing projects In 2019, Washington State Pass a stimulus law Development of affordable housing on property owned or controlled by religious groups and local governments atlanta And Saint Anthony It has started providing technical assistance to religious institutions interested in building housing on their land. In Detroit, the city’s housing commission Recently funded New affordable units on church property, and state lawmakers Like Hawaii And New York Says they hope to follow in California’s footsteps with a YIGBY law
Some religious institutions want to create housing as a new way to welcome strangers and care for the poor in their midst, while others think more about their overall institutional legacy, especially as their membership continues to shrink.
“Certainly some faith communities continue to serve their communities and look to housing as a way to strengthen their social justice mission, but in other cases the faith community itself will no longer be what it was 20, 30, 50 years ago. Before and leaders want to use their legacy of presence, charity and ministry to translate the land to a new use,” said Rev. Reidy. “I think this is where the federal government can make a difference, with HUD or a presidential commission building the resources and intel to provide faith leaders.”
Zoning religion
Despite enthusiasm for the idea, YIGBY still faces obstacles in realizing its full potential
Restrictive zoning codes prevent most communities from unleashing the full spectrum of housing development on faith-based properties. sometimes projects May be delayed for years Due to court challenges or community opposition, and earlier this year in a small town in northwest Ohio, a pastor faced criminal charges for housing homeless people at a facility. Not zoned Allows people to sleep on the first floor. Projects can also be architecturally difficult, especially compared to converting old retail stores.
“Land use and building codes that regulate parking, utilities, sewer, stormwater, fire safety, signage, accessibility, curb cuts and the like can make it nearly impossible to reuse or redevelop even a well-zoned property,” said Rick ReinhardtA housing consultant.
Some proponents of development, such as YIGBY, have devised more unorthodox legal techniques to get regulations to make sense.
Rev. University of Notre Dame. Reidy argues that there is more room to push back against restrictive zoning codes Through religious freedom cases. “We have this federal religious land use law, and I think it’s actually pretty clear that it protects churches that try to do something like that,” he told Vox. This legal theory has yet to be tested, though Ready notes that many people would prefer to go the state-level preemption route instead.
inside A May report was published By the right-leaning Mercatus Center, researchers found more examples of cities with complex zoning restrictions that could hinder YIGBY development, and they noted that some local zoning risks encouraging faith-based housing in areas unsuitable for healthy residential living. They recommended exempting YIGBY construction near industrial zones, military bases and airports.
Mercatus Center co-authored the report Salim Furth YIGBY does not expect development to ultimately represent a huge part of how the country will solve its housing supply crisis.
“There isn’t that A lot of land that is developable, religious institutions are already tax-free, and frankly I want churches to stay churches,” he told Vox. “I don’t want cities to see the decline of religious institutions as just a way to solve their affordable housing problem.”
Also, Furth added, faith-based housing can come with specific preferences for its own members, or certain requirements that don’t sit well with everyone seeking housing — a problem that has come with some faith-based homeless shelters. Required things like mandatory church attendance.
Still, for those who pursue the option, advocates are excited about the potential to revitalize congregations and local communities, improve access to housing for those who need it, and even improve relations between religious and secular Americans.
“I will say this as a Catholic priest who went to Yale Law School, there are people who are skeptical of organized religion, and it’s really mind-boggling to hear people say, ‘I don’t know how anyone couldn’t back down. That’s the idea,'” Rev. Reidy said. “You’ve got local governments looking for land that they can’t afford on their own. You’ve got a community of faith that’s willing to part with it for affordable housing. It’s a win-win.”
