ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A church may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of affordable housing, but it will likely be part of the conversation and solution going forward if the governor signs a newly passed bill.

What You Need To Know

  • The affordable housing bill referred to as, “Yes, in God’s backyard” empowers local governments to work with faith communities to build affordable housing on their properties

  • St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch said he supports the bill

  • If the governor signs the bill, it will go into effect July 1

State leaders recently passed a bill that would bring churches in to help with the affordable housing shortage.

The affordable housing bill referred to as, “Yes, in God’s backyard” empowers local governments to work with faith communities to build affordable housing on their properties.

At Palm Lake Christian Church in St. Pete, it is a concept they already had in mind. The church’s pastor, Oscar Banks, said their church had already planned to build 86 affordable housing units before the state legislature passed the bill. Now they want to serve as a blueprint for others.

“If not us, then who? If not now, then when? We believe instead of just arguing with political figures. Instead of just having speeches, instead of just pressing for social change, we might as well be a part of the answer,” Banks said. “We’re wanting to be part of that bigger solution and I think if churches, other churches who have space can jump on, we want to be part of that solution and help them figure out how to do that as well. “

Bethel Community Baptist Church Bishop Manuel Sykes said he has wanted to get involved with housing on their property for years.

“My plan has always been since we moved to this property to build senior citizens’ housing,” he said.

Sykes said the project at his church is still in the infancy stages. And while he likes this new proposed government and church collaboration, his isn’t a burden he thinks the church should be responsible for carrying.

“You can literally take the square footage of a property and available property of all of these churches and the dent that it would make in the housing crisis would be minimal,” Sykes said. “Especially compared to 87 acres and $300 million.”

Sykes is referring to the property surrounding Tropicana Field that was part of the now failed Gas Plant District Redevelopment Project.

St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch said he supports the “Yes in God’s backyard” bill.

“Churches own a lot of land,” he said. “You can think of a church probably in your community where just acres of land have sat vacant for generations. That could be town houses, it could be apartments, it could be for those members or members of our community. We’re going to build a model. Kinda talk about this is one part of the toolkit. You still need financing, you still need the other pieces of it, but it’s an important step forward for us.”

The mayor said faith leaders have already started reaching out to be part of the solution.

Pastor Banks said they want to serve as the blueprint of how to make this happen.

If the governor signs the bill, it will go into effect, July 1. That bill won’t impact the project at Palm Lake Christian Church. They’re expected to break ground on their 86-unit project in the coming weeks.