PROSPECT HEIGHTS — Amid a nationwide affordable housing crisis, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with other Catholic organizations, is urging Congress to pass legislation that will enhance its ability to increase the supply of affordable housing.
Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, Chairman of the United States Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, introduced the Yes in God’s Backyard Act in March, and its status hasn’t changed since. Catholic leaders urged its passage on July 12 in a letter to Brown and other congressional leaders.
The legislation, according to its text, would provide technical assistance and grants for faith-based organizations, institutions of higher education, and local governments to increase the supply of affordable rental housing, and for other purposes.
“[We] support the Yes in God’s Backyard Act, because it would help faith-based and nonprofit organizations improve their capacity to meet the housing needs of poor and vulnerable community members.” the USCCB states. “We urge its passage.”
The letter highlights that the United States is in the midst of a “profound and prolonged housing crisis, where a systemic lack of affordable housing drives up housing costs for low-income households, exacerbating their financial insecurity.” The letter notes that these problems are more acute for African American, Latino, and Indigenous households.
According to data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the United States has a shortage of 7.3 million rental homes affordable and available to renters with “extremely low incomes,” which is defined as incomes at or below either the federal poverty guideline of 30% of their area median income, whichever is greater.
The data shows that there are currently 12 states — Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, and Vermont — with 30 or fewer affordable and available rental homes per 100 extremely low-income renter households.
Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., have 31 to 40 affordable and available rental homes per 100 extremely low-income renter households, 10 states have 41 to 45, and 11 states have more than 45.
The USCCB also highlights that Catholic entities are one of the largest private providers of housing, while also noting that “more must be done to respond to the immense suffering faced by poor households, and Catholics can do more.”
The letter cites The Right to a Decent Home: A Pastoral Response to the Crisis in Housing, November 20, 1975. In the statement, the American bishops challenge Catholic institutions to “take an inventory of our property and real estate, reflect upon its utilization, and examine how it might better be put at the service of those who lack adequate shelter… [as well as] make better use of our economic and personnel resources to assist those who need housing.”
“[The Yes in God’s Backyard Act] would make it easier for the Church to do precisely this, empowering faith-based and other nonprofit institutions to use their resources responsibly to serve more vulnerable families,” the letter states.
When Brown introduced the bill on March 12, he acknowledged America’s housing crisis: “Housing is too expensive and too hard to find in almost every community in America.”
“This is a common-sense solution — families need more housing, and churches, synagogues, and other religious organizations want to put their faith into action by developing housing on land they already own,” he said in a statement. “By helping these institutions cut through red tape, we can lower the cost of housing and expand options in Ohio and around the country.”
Brown also highlights that the legislation would provide technical assistance to faith-based organizations and institutions of higher education to use their existing land for affordable housing, help local governments learn best practices and how to work with the private sector to facilitate more affordable housing and create grants that “remove barriers” to the creation of affordable housing.
At the end of the July 12 letter sent by Catholic organizations, they ask Brown to amend the bill to relieve recipient organizations of compliance obligations that typically apply to federal funding in order to “maximize” the utility grants they could receive. The USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Peace did not respond to a Tablet request for clarification on the specific obligations they’re referencing.
The clergy who signed the letter are Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, chair of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Father Christopher Kellerman, secretary, Office of Justice and Ecology, at the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States.
The organizations that signed the letter are Kerry Alys Robinson, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, and John Barry, president of the National Council of the United States at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.