Los Angeles Diocese Says ‘Yes in God’s Backyard’

According to an article by Lynette Wilson for the Episcopal News Service, the Catholic Diocese of Los Angeles, which sprawls “from the Pacific Ocean to the northern tip of Santa Barbara County, east to Needles on the Arizona border, and south to the San Diego County,” plans to build affordable housing on 25 percent of the 133 church campuses it owns.

As Wilson explains, “The diocese’s churches are working with development partners to build and maintain apartment complexes on land held in trust by the diocese that’s being leased to its various partners.”

The project is part of a growing ‘Yes in God’s Backyard’ movement that calls on religious institutions to contribute to creating more affordable housing for people struggling to afford housing costs. The movement gained steam with the passage of California’s SB 4, which streamlines the permitting process for houses of worship and nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing.

A Los Angeles Times editorial from December 2022 points out that “‘California has nearly 39,000 acres of land used for religious purposes that could be developed,’ with close to half of it in ‘high opportunity’ neighborhoods, where cost, zoning, and local opposition often make it difficult to build affordable housing.”