Yes in God’s Backyard? Churches Push to Skirt Zoning Laws and Build More Housing

Dustin Longmire is a pastor with an extra church.

And he believes the most Christian thing to do with it is build more housing.

The 38-year-old pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in the upstate town of Rotterdam said his plan was moving forward until local officials changed the zoning code to reduce the allowed density. As a result, he’s become an advocate for state legislation called the Faith-based Affordable Housing Act, which would exempt houses of worship from some local zoning laws.

Longmire says the bill could help alleviate the state’s housing crisis, fulfill a spiritual call, and help revitalize religious institutions and better connect them with their communities. It also puts him in the middle of an ongoing debate over the state’s affordability crisis, where efforts to build high-density housing in suburbs like Rotterdam meet with resistance from municipal officials who argue for local control.

To answer NIMBY, or “Not in my backyard,” Longmire says YIGBY: “Yes, in God’s backyard.”

“I bet almost every town across our state there are multiple congregations, most of whom are aging, most of whom are struggling with buildings that are aging and falling apart, too,” he said. “You could, if this bill passes, build over 60,000 units of affordable housing and be able to reinvest back in their ministries, their core programs.”

His path to supporting the legislation began before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Messiah merged with nearby Trinity Reformed Church, which helped fill Messiah’s pews. But demand for the parish food pantry soared during the pandemic, and Longmire expanded social service operations in Trinity’s old building. Its Sunday school classrooms are now filled with diapers and canned goods. Its nave hosts activities, including lectures and a weekly balance-bike rodeo for children.

It didn’t make sense to maintain two worship spaces, so Longmire embarked on a plan to redevelop Trinity into a community center topped by two floors of affordable housing.

But before his plans to build could move forward, town officials voted to reduce the local building height limit. Town officials said in a planning meeting that the action was consistent with a comprehensive plan and would help create mixed-use gateways in that part of the town.

“These changes were not done to hinder any developer, but to keep us up with the changing world we live in,” Rotterdam Supervisor Mollie Collins said at a board meeting last year. She didn’t return requests for comment.

Longmire worked on political campaigns before joining the clergy, and he found a possible solution to his problem at the state Capitol. Some lawmakers there are pushing the Faith-based Affordable Housing Act, which would let religious organizations fast-track projects and bypass some local zoning mandates. They would be subject to a more limited environmental review process, exempted from parking requirements and offered additional height allowances.

Bill sponsor Brian Cunningham, an assemblymember from Brooklyn, said the proposal could unlock up to 60,000 units of housing around the state. He said church leaders in his district tell him that their congregants can’t keep up with rising rents in the neighborhoods near their spiritual homes.

Cunningham said there are opportunities to meet the needs around the state. Churches often control parking lots, clergy housing or schools that are no longer in use and could become housing for young families or senior citizens.

“We as a state have to do more to unlock the power of making sure people can stay here,” Cunningham said. “And our faith partners have stepped up to the plate once again to say that they want to help provide a very vital, necessary and basic human right for all New Yorkers. We should tap into that.”

California passed a law similar to Cunningham’s proposal in 2023. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the leading candidate for New York City mayor, said in his campaign’s housing plan that faith groups should be allowed to build on unused land.

But local officials are concerned. New York State Association of Towns Executive Director Chris Koetzle said defeating Cunningham’s bill is one of his top priorities, and his organization has been circulating opposition memos at the state Capitol.

He said houses of worship should be encouraged to develop but saw no reason that they should get a preference in existing land-use review processes.

“Folks who live in a community have the right to determine what that community is, what’s built in that community, how, how, how you zone,” Koetzle said. “And, and I think that’s critically important because that’s governance from the bottom up and that’s the way it should be.”

Longmire has also been at the Capitol, and recently held a prayer service for affordable housing at Messiah. About two dozen people came on a Wednesday evening to listen to scripture, sing hymns and pray for “all those who do not feel safe in their homes.”

Laurie Lumbra was one of the speakers. The 72-year-old came to Rotterdam as a child. Her father was in the Navy, and the family lived in the same public housing complex that was once home to former President Jimmy Carter.

Lumbra described Rotterdam as a blue-collar suburb of Schenectady, a city along the Mohawk River where Thomas Edison founded General Electric. The company’s factory employed 40,000 at its peak, and many workers commuted from serviceable ranches and bungalows in Rotterdam. Lumbra spent her career as a nursery school teacher, and now gets by on $1,300 a month. Her rent is now $900, up from about $600 five years ago, she said.

“Everything’s gone up. You know, it’s just, you have to decide which bills you’re gonna pay, you know, and or juggle,” she said over a dinner of baked ziti and meatballs.

Cunningham said he’s pushing to bring his bill to a floor vote after lawmakers adopt the annual state budget, which was due by April 1. The state Legislature adjourns its annual session in June.

Story by Jimmy Vielkind/WNYC/New York Public News Network
Jimmy Vielkind covers how state government and politics affect people throughout New York. He has covered Albany since 2008, most recently as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

Image: Laurie Lumba attends a service at Messiah Lutheran Church in Rotterdam, Schenectady County. (Credit: Jimmy Vielkind/New York Public News Network)