Texas is one of several states that has considered YIGBY bills with the goal of providing people with affordable housing. One bill currently going through the Texas state legislature, HB 3172, would enable churches that want to use their land for affordable housing to avoid parts of the zoning process.
Opponents of affordable housing worry that it could lead to overcrowding. Carol Peters, president of the West Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association in Fort Worth, voiced some of her concerns about HB 3172 in a Facebook post.
Among them are that “the definition of ‘religious organization’ is very loose & there’s no requirement that a religious organization hold a property for any set amount of time before or after it’s redeveloped into multi-housing which could create the opportunity for lots of abuse.” She worried developers would manipulate the bill to “bypass zoning.”
Other concerns she mentioned were insufficient street parking and the potential for apartment buildings to “tower over” residences.
Texas Pastor Urges Church Leaders To ‘Have a Conversation With the Lord’
Rosenthal supports HB 3172, but when his church decided to use its land for affordable housing, that land had to be rezoned and sold to a developer.
The pastor said that in 2015 or 2016, his church was doing very well and was growing. He and the deacons thought the time was ripe for the church to purchase a new building. “We got the land,” he said. “That’s what we bought it for.”
“We were all but ready to kind of move forward with that and bring it before the church to get a vote,” said Rosenthal, when something significant happened to stop him: God spoke to him during his prayer time.
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The pastor said that he was praying on a Friday and the next day church leaders were going to meet to discuss moving forward on the new church building. While he was in prayer, “I heard a voice in my spirit say, ‘Did I tell you to build a new building?’”
“And I’m going, ‘Oh no, I know that can’t be the Lord talking to me,’” said Rosenthal.
“Then,” he said, “I believe I heard it again, and that’s God’s way of speaking to me. He repeats it.”
When Rosenthal heard the same message from God a second time, the pastor said, “I fell to my knees. I cried out, ‘Lord, forgive me. I made the assumption that that’s what we were supposed to do.’”
