In Effort to Diminish the Nimby Movement, Senator Introduces Yigby Bill

In a move designed to counteract local zoning laws that may be seen as too restrictive, Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown has introduced a bill making it easier for faith-based groups to build housing.

The legislation, called the Yes, In God’s Back Yard Act, aims at reducing what Brown is calling “barriers to housing.”

“Housing is too expensive and too hard to find in almost every community in America,” said Brown, who is also the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

The challenges are equally apparent for religious groups who want to build housing, even when it’s on land they already own: “By helping these institutions cut through red tape, we can lower the costs of housing and expand options in Ohio and around the country,” Brown remarked.

The acronym for Brown’s legislation, YIGBY, is an obvious reference to the ongoing Not In My Back Yard movement, otherwise known as NIMBY, which has seen opposition to any number of new housing projects in communities across the country.

If approved, the legislation would provide assistance to both faith-based groups as well as institutions of higher learning that want to use land they own for housing development.

The bill would also make available to local governments assistance to “learn best practices and how they can facilitate the production of affordable rental housing” on privately owned land.

An additional feature of the legislature calls for the establishment of challenge grants for communities, removing barriers to the building of affordable housing.

Brown’s proposal has received support from a diverse array of groups including the United Church of Christ, National Association of Evangelicals, the National Housing Law Project, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition, among others.

The legislation is currently under review in the Banking Committee. It is not known when it will move to the full Senate.

​By Garry Boulard

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