(April 11, 2025) New York’s Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act, a proposed bi-partisan bill, would ease the zoning and review process for religious organizations looking to build residences on their land in Westchester County and across the state.
This promising legislation can help Westchester’s religious institutions address the housing shortage faced in the county by creating new residences on otherwise unused land, parking lots and where vacant buildings stand. This bill would mandate religious organizations to include twice as many affordable housing units in their proposal than local ordinances require and would not affect the historic preservation or environmental conservation laws already in place.
Religious leaders in Westchester County and across the state have voiced their support for the bill, including Welcome Home Westchester Policy Advisory Committee member Bob Miller, who serves as chair of Bet Am Shalom Synagogue’s Affordable Housing Committee in White Plains.
“The Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act can serve as a tool to bypass the stranglehold that the local zoning process has become in Westchester’s suburban communities, thereby enabling religious institutions to use their own land to provide much-needed affordable housing,” Miller stated.
Rev. Dr. Kelly Hough Rogers, senior minister at The Scarsdale Congregational Church, UCC, serves as a member of the Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act Coalition. She addressed supporters of the legislation during a Faith Walk on April 9 at New Testament Temple in the Bronx, organized by nonprofit organization Open New York.
“Passing the Faith Based Affordable Housing Bill will allow willing communities to use their faith in tangible ways to serve the community by providing much needed housing inventory,” Rev. Dr. Rogers said. “So many religious organizations have parking lots, empty buildings and land that is underutilized. The intention of this act is to simplify, accelerate and reduce the cost of development when the objective is to produce badly-needed housing units.”
Welcome Home Westchester, a multi-stakeholder advocacy effort driving public conversation around building the housing our county needs, is continuing to track the progress of this bill and other affordable housing initiatives as New York State budget negotiations continue.