Dive Brief:
- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed a bill earlier this month that will expand opportunities for faith-based organizations to offer affordable housing.
- The law allows religious organizations to use property owned prior to 2026 to build housing for people making no more than 80% of the area median income. The housing must not exceed 24 units, be located in a commercial zone or along a primary road in a residential zone and remain affordable for at least 15 years.
- The Kentucky Resources Council opposed the law for allowing religious developers to bypass permitting rules and a full review, limiting consideration of environmental impacts and conferring “a categorical exemption based solely on the religious status of the developer.”
Dive Insight:
In the midst of a nationwide affordable housing crunch, religious organizations are offering up their land.
Faith-based institutions in Kentucky have wanted to do the same but were hampered by restrictive zoning regulations, bill sponsor Rep. Michael Sarge Pollock said in a statement shared on social media.
“This measure will empower the faith-based organizations to use their own property to benefit families, workers, and seniors who are being priced out of the housing market,” Pollock said. “By cutting red tape, we can increase affordable housing options and provide critically needed shelter for those in need.”
KRC wrote in February that it appreciated the effort to address the state’s housing needs but said the legislation “limits meaningful consideration of potential impacts to the built and natural environment, as well as the public’s ability to raise legitimate environmental or land-use concerns, some of which may be harmful even to the residents.”
The organization also questioned why the exemptions only applied to religious institutions and did not extend to secular affordable housing developers.
