Action Alert: Contact Your State Senator About YIGBY
At the beginning of March, we were excited to tell you that HB 2815, affectionately nicknamed the Yes In God’s Back Yard Bill, had passed through the Arizona House!
This bill creates a zoning designation allowing houses of worship to construct low- and middle-income housing on their properties regardless of zoning laws. You can find more of the information we have shared on this policy here.
The bill has seen little movement since its transmission to the Senate. Even though it was sent over on February 29th, YIGBY still has not been assigned to any committees. There is still time for it to be picked up, and potentially passed, but, as this Senate has moved slowly on all housing policy, it seems unlikely to happen without our advocacy.
This week, we are encouraging you to put pressure on our Senators to treat this important piece of legislation as a priority. Join us in contacting our Senators’ offices and letting them know that we care about HB2815 and hope to see it pass this session.
Sample Letter and Contact Information
To find out the name, email address, and phone number of your State Senator, click here.
Below is a sample letter or email to send to your Senator. Please personalize the message, including any stories you have about housing on church land and reasons this policy matters to you.
Dear Senator ____,
My name is _____, and I am a constituent of yours. I am writing to you today about HB2815, Yes in God’s Back Yard. This bill passed the House and was transmitted to the Senate at the end of February, but since then, it has not been assigned to any committees. HB 2815 would allow houses of worship to construct low- and middle-income housing on their property, even when it is not zoned residential use.
As a Lutheran, I have been watching this bill closely. Many Lutheran churches in Arizona are deeply involved in outreach to and care for our unhoused neighbors; it is our calling to care for the vulnerable and those in need. Several churches have already built accessible and affordable housing, allowing them to take the next step in serving our neighbors. Several more churches would do so, but are blocked by local zoning laws.
This policy would be good for everyone. Experts agree that the biggest cause of the housing and homelessness crisis in Arizona is that we are more than 200,000 housing units short of where we need to be in order to keep up with population growth. One of the biggest difficulties for housing developers is the zoning restrictions on affordable and multi-family housing. The passage of this bill would allow churches and other houses of worship to make a sizeable dent in this problem, and many houses of worship are ready and willing to do just that.
HB2815 would empower houses of worship to help meet the needs of our community and help alleviate the larger housing crisis in our state, and I am disappointed to see it stall in the Senate. I hope you will keep this bill and its potential impact in mind and consider it a priority as we move through the rest of the legislative session.
Thank you for your hard work on behalf of Arizona!
[Singed your name]
If you would like to call your Senator’s office and leave a message, here is a sample script:
Hello! My name is ____, and I am one of Senator ____’s constituents. I would like to leave a message regarding a piece of legislation.
HB2815, nick-named Yes In God’s Back Yard, was transmitted to the Senate at the end of February, but has yet to be assigned to any committees. This bill allows houses of worship to construct low and middle income housing on their property, even if it isn’t zoned for residential use. As a Christian, I think this bill is incredibly important. Many of our Lutheran Churches in the state already provide housing, and many more are interested in doing so, but are blocked by zoning laws. This policy would give our churches a significant way to serve our neighbors, and would help meet the housing crisis in our state. This bill has the potential to impact the lives of many people and congregations across the state. Even though this bill isn’t currently assigned to any committees, I hope you will keep it and its importance in mind as we move through the rest of the legislative session.
Thank you for your hard work on behalf of Arizonans!
Thank you for your advocacy!
