Bishop Hutterer Joins V.I.P To Advocate for Affordable Housing Legislation

Bishop Hutterer with other Bishops and faith leaders from around the Valley hold a press conference at the Arizona State Capitol. Photo courtesy of KJZZ

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matt 25:40)

Last Thursday, February 15th, Grand Canyon Synod’s Bishop Deborah Hutterer joined other faith leaders and friends from the Valley Interfaith Project (VIP) at the Arizona State Capitol. The group joined lawmakers from both sides of the isle to discuss the pressing need for affordable, accessible housing in our various communities and legislation that can help us meet the needs we see in our communities.

Arizona currently has one of the worst housing crises in the nation; as costs continue to rise and more people move to our state, more and more folks are unable to secure housing that they can comfortably afford. There are several factors that influence housing scarcity, including cost of living issues, fair wages, and, most pressingly for us in Arizona, a lack of actual housing units. The Phoenix area alone is more than 270,000 housing units short of what is needed to keep up with demand. This lack of housing is caused and continued by bureaucratic red tape, and policies like restrictive zoning laws, in addition to increased demand. NIMBY-ism is another common roadblock for cities looking to construct emergency shelters and housing units. “NIMBY” stands for “Not In My Backyard”— an outlook common in many residential areas that although we need solutions to the housing crisis, those projects should happen “somewhere else, not in my back yard.”

Many communities of faith throughout our state have worked long and hard to minister to the needs of our unhoused neighbors, as well as seen the housing squeeze affect members of our congregations. Lutherans are especially engaged in this work; just about all of our churches in Arizona do some sort of work with feeding ministries, and several of our congregations are known for their homeless outreach programs. Our willingness to do this work is an important counter to the NIMBY mentality, and we have heard from many churches that wish to do more to help their neighbors, but are running into roadblocks.

At Thursday’s press conference, the Valley Interfaith Project endorsed two bills which seek to empower faith congregations in this work.

• “Yes In God’s Back Yard” (HB 2815)
  This bill eases zoning restrictions to make it easier for religious institutions to build affordable housing on their land, a strategy that many are embracing as a way to address the housing crisis and utilize unused land. Many Lutheran churches in our synod already have housing on their properties; this looks different for every congregation, but some own houses, other have small apartments, or apartment complexes. This has a host of potential benefits for congregations, as well as allowing us to serve our neighbors in need. HB 2815 would allow many more of our churches, as well as our ecumenical friends, to participate in this important type of ministry!

• Renewal and expansion of the state's low-income housing tax credit program (HB2576, SB1689)
  LIHTC is the primary funding mechanism for building housing that is reserved for low-income people. The state LIHTC program financed 1,000 units in 2023 alone, but is set to expire at the end of next year unless the legislature takes action.

Yesterday, Yes In God’s Backyard passed in the House Appropriations Committee! This is an exciting and important step in the bill’s process. We are also looking forward to upcoming votes on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program. This fund is very important to the construction and creation of affordable housing, so it is important that our upcoming budget includes the renewal and expansion of the fund!

We hope you will join us and Bishop Hutterer in advocating for these important bills! Please reach out to your lawmakers and let them know about these bills— Yes In God’s Backyard is a totally new bill this year, so your representatives might not know about it. It is also important to let both senators and representatives know you support the expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit!

If you don’t know who your legislators are, click here.

Click here to find the contact information for your Representatives, and click here to find information for your Senator.

Remember to also include your stances in the Request To Speak system!

If you and your congregation have stories about housing on your land, please share them with your lawmakers and our office! Thank you for your advocacy.

Photos courtesy of Valley Interfaith Project