Calif. considers bill to allow low income housing on church property
A California state senator has proposed a bill that would allow religious groups and nonprofits to build affordable housing on their properties regardless of local zoning laws.
Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco announced the introduction of Senate Bill 899 last Friday, which would allow the construction of affordable housing on properties owned by churches, hospitals, nursing homes and other nonprofit organizations if all units go to lower income families.
Wiener said in a statement last week that the proposed legislation was part of an effort to meet the growing need for affordable housing in the state.
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“California desperately needs housing of all kinds, including affordable housing for our low income residents,” Wiener said.
“Churches and other religious and charitable institutions often have land to spare, and they should be able to use that land to build affordable housing and thus further their mission.”
Wiener added that his bill “ensures that affordable housing can be built and removes local zoning and approval obstacles in order to do so.”
Eddie McCoven, spokesman for the Clairemont Lutheran Church of San Diego, expressed support for the legislation in an interview with the libertarian news outlet Reason.
In recent times, Clairemont Lutheran has struggled to get approval for an affordable housing project on their church property due to local zoning restrictions.
“If this type of legislation was already in place when we were starting this project, we would be a lot further along than we are,” McCoven told Reason.
“Any congregation that decides this is something they want to pursue, would probably make it a whole lot easier and a much more streamlined.”
Across the country, efforts have been made to have developers and faith-based organizations form partnerships to provide affordable housing for low income households.
In New York City, for example, the group East Brooklyn Congregations has been able to provide 6,000 affordable housing units through its real estate arm, The Nehemiah Housing Development Fund Company.
The Rev. David Bowers of Enterprise Community Partners told The Christian Post in an earlier interview that such partnerships can greatly aid the development of affordable housing.
“There’s so much land owned by houses of worship across the country in communities of all sorts. It’s one of those universal things in America. And so there’s tremendous potential with that land,” Bowers said.
