Answered prayers: New bill could use church land to fight homelessness
It’s not NIMBY, it’s YIGBY. As America faces rising homelessness and an escalating housing shortage, a growing movement believes churches, mosques and synagogues are an answer to the housing crisis.
A new federal bill introduced this month aims to offer space on land already owned by faith-based organizations and higher education institutions.
Dubbed the YIGBY Act, an acronym for “Yes In God’s Backyard,” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., alongside Sens. Andy Kim, D-N.J., and Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., introduced the federal bill on Sept. 4. They aim to maximize land already owned by organizations and institutions and parlay the underused land into much-needed affordable housing in communities across the nation.
Over the decades, individual states have been building momentum with the YIGBY movement. Since 2023, nine states — California, Arizona, Colorado, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Virginia and the state of Washington — have considered YIGBY-related legislation.
However, this new bill would provide a national solution rather than a state-by-state approach.
“The ‘Yes in God’s Backyard’ bill offers a practical and timely solution with the dual purpose of addressing regulatory barriers for churches and other faith-based organizations while also providing incentives to states and local communities to use their land assets,” Christopher Findlay, a Lutheran Services of America spokesperson, told Straight Arrow News.
Lutheran Services of America is one of the nonprofits that endorsed the YIGBY bill. “It is time to empower our sector to join the effort in easing this crisis.”
Urgent need for affordable housing
As prices continue to soar and rental properties become increasingly less available, the need for affordable housing grows continually more urgent. Currently, the U.S. faces a shortage of almost four million homes. America’s rise in homelessness had the largest increase in years, at 18% in 2024, according to The National Alliance to End Homelessness.
“By unlocking underutilized land owned by faith-based organizations and higher education institutions — and providing critical funding to them and their government partners — the YIGBY Act would help expand and preserve affordable rental housing for those who need it most,” Linda Couch, SVP of Policy at LeadingAge, another nonprofit that endorsed the bill, told SAN.
While various organizations are interested in offering their land to provide housing for those without it, it is often “outdated zoning rules” and red tape that prevent them from moving forward, Warner said.
The goal is to provide technical assistance, incentives and resources for communities and organizations interested in supporting this growing movement.
“Too many families are getting priced out of their communities because of the skyrocketing cost of housing,” Warner said in a Sept. 4 press release. “If we want to make housing more affordable, we need to get creative and take advantage of opportunities that already exist.”
YIGBY Act’s proposal
If passed, the bill would offer $50 million per year to communities supporting the initiative.
The bill would also allow for technical assistance to local jurisdictions actively working to reduce barriers to affordable housing and would also lend support to organizations offering their land.
“As communities across the country face a growing shortage of affordable housing — especially people with low incomes, including older adults — the Yes in God’s Backyard Act offers a practical and compassionate solution,” Couch said. “We strongly support this effort and urge Congress to act swiftly to pass this important legislation.”
Opposition
While the YIGBY Act is new to Congress and has yet to see any testimony for or against the measure, municipalities in states that have proposed a similar measure have said doing so would take local autonomy away from them.
The post Answered prayers: New bill could use church land to fight homelessness appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
