PINE HILLS, Fla. — An Orange County church is moving forward with plans to build nearly 300 affordable housing units on land it owns behind its Pine Hills campus, using a local program tied to Florida’s “Yes in God’s Backyard” law.
Fellowship Baptist Church of Pine Hills plans to develop the apartments on 10 acres of unused land behind the church. The $75 million project is part of Orange County’s Affordable Housing for Religious Institutional Lands Program, which streamlines approvals for churches seeking to build affordable housing on unused property.
Florida’s “Yes in God’s Backyard” law allows county governments to permit churches to build affordable housing on unused land, even when the property is not zoned for residential use. Orange County’s program goes beyond the state’s minimum standards by requiring that 100% of the units meet the county’s affordability standards…