Laguna Beach, California, church plans affordable housing on its land under state YIGBY law

The Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach, California, has been reconsidering its role in the community for years. The congregation has been in the city for 80 years, but like many churches across the United States, its attendance has declined. About 30 worshippers gather there on a given Sunday, in a building meant for more than 200.

Rather than close its doors and sell its land to the highest bidder, the church decided to redesign its grounds. In 2020, parish leaders voted unanimously to include an affordable housing complex among other changes. It would be the first affordable housing project of its kind in the city in almost two decades. The project can now use an expedited process under California’s “Yes in God’s Backyard” (YIGBY) law, also known as SB 4, which took effect after being signed in 2023. The law allows nonprofit colleges and religious institutions to build 100-percent affordable housing on their properties “by right,” without special zoning approval from the city, as long as the project meets state-mandated criteria.

The YIGBY movement is an offshoot of the “Yes in My Backyard” (YIMBY) movement and began in San Diego, where local housing advocates were seeking ways to address homelessness. Its premise is that religious institutions, historically large landowners in the United States, can help address the housing shortage by using underused religious land for affordable housing. The movement supports legal changes that would remove zoning rules preventing religious property from being used for other purposes.

Interest has spread beyond California. The article reports that similar laws have been proposed in New York, Virginia, and Hawaii, and adopted in Atlanta, Georgia, and San Antonio, Texas, among other jurisdictions. Several YIGBY laws have been implemented by local governments, but California’s is the second state-level law, following Washington’s HB 1377. Washington’s law provides a density bonus for affordable housing on religious property, with local jurisdictions still determining the scope of that bonus. The article notes that California’s SB 4 goes further by bypassing local permitting processes that would otherwise require special city approval.

According to the article, California has more rent-burdened residents than any other state, meaning households spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and it has the largest share of the nation’s unhoused population. Rodrick Echols, pastor of Neighborhood Congregational Church, said that affordable housing “is not being built at the rate needed in California because of the complex, lengthy, and costly entitlement process,” and called SB 4 “an unexpected opportunity.” Housing advocates, the article notes, say that houses of worship taking on this role requires both political will and a moral commitment, and the church’s own plans show how a congregation can consider service beyond worship in its use of land, a stewardship of generosity (Hebrews 13:16).

Advocates say it is too early to predict how many projects SB 4 will produce. John Oh, project manager of the Faith in Housing initiative at L.A. Voice, told The New York Times that some 80 congregations across faiths have begun looking into housing development, and that this figure refers only to Los Angeles. An analysis by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at U.C. Berkeley estimates that as many as 171,000 acres of potentially developable land owned by nonprofit colleges and religious institutions could be unlocked by the law.

The article also reports the view of Mahdi Manji, director of policy at the Inner City Law Center, a nonprofit law firm based in Skid Row that serves homeless people and those at risk of homelessness in Los Angeles County. The firm co-sponsored SB 4. Manji said, “Many cities prefer to have the power to deny a project, if they so desire,” and stated that under SB 4, if a project meets the law’s requirements, “the city can no longer deny it; they have to approve it.” He also said that SB 4 limits institutions to contracting with “qualified developers,” which he said the law defines as affordable housing developers and local public entities. “It creates this win-win situation, because only they can utilize this process,” he said.

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