YIGBY Goes National
On March 12, Senator Sherrod Brown (a Lutheran!) from Ohio, introduced a bill that mirrors the Yes In God’s Back Yard bills seen in many states, including Arizona. Brown is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and we are excited to see this piece of legislation from such a prominent congress member!
How does this act differ from state-level YIGBY bills?
States like California and Minnesota have recently passed YIGBY bills and like our bill in Arizona, these policies seek to tackle zoning laws. Many housing and development experts agree that outdated and convoluted zoning laws are one of the biggest obstacles to providing enough affordable housing, and state governments have the power to help houses of worship, academic institutions, and other nonprofits work within these local systems to construct housing on their properties regardless of zoning designations. Legislation like this is gaining nationwide popularity, as many houses of worship wish to provide housing to their community but are blocked by zoning laws, and many states are looking for solutions to housing scarcity.
The federal government does not have the power to control local zoning laws, so Sen. Brown’s bill takes a different approach. The Yes In God’s Back Yard Act instead aims to provide support for communities and congregations that want to pursue this solution. According to the Senator’s website, this legislation…
Provides technical assistance to faith-based organizations and institutions of higher education wanting to use their existing land to increase or preserve the supply of affordable rental housing.
Provides technical assistance to local governments to learn best practices and how they can facilitate the production of affordable rental housing on land owned by faith-based organizations and institutions of higher education.
Creates challenge grants to provide additional resources to communities that adopt policies that remove barriers to the production and preservation of affordable rental housing on property owned by faith-based organizations and institutions of higher education.
If this bill passes, do we still need to pass YIGBY in Arizona?
If this bill passes, individual states and municipalities would still need to opt in to this kind of agreement within their own governing bodies, so the federal YIGBY Act does not make our efforts in Arizona redundant. Instead, it provides guidelines and support for state like ours. The proposed grants and assistance would make the transition started by local YIGBY laws to be smoother and more effective, as well as helping congregations enacted projects that new YIGBY laws would allow.
What else should I know?
This bill is supported by the by The Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, Enterprise Ohio, Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, National Housing Law Project, National Low Income Housing Coalition, and LeadingAge.
Click here for the full bill text, and here for a one pager.
Click here to contact Senator Kelly and here to contact Senator Sinema and encourage them to support this bill!
