HB2191 (Yes In God's Back Yard) failed to pass the State House of Representatives' floor vote. That means that the bill is essentially dead for this session.
In the past two months, this bill has taken a lot of dramatic turns. The first version of the bill would have allowed properties owned by religious institutions to contain, by right, apartments as tall as any building within a quarter mile with no limits on density.
The second version would have kept housing height to 38 feet with a density bonus limited to an increase of 20%. And the final version was amended once, and would have enabled houses of worship to lease land for single family homes using a community land trust model.
Every version of the bill would have been a one-size fits all solution and would have over-ridden the zoning process. Every version of the bill was complicated with complex and unclear provisions. Several versions did not address the price of the housing that would be created; none clearly prohibited the use of created housing as short-term rentals.
Neighbors were never included as stakeholders in any of the formulations of the bill or its amendments, but whenever we had the opportunity, we analyzed the bills, we gave our feedback, and we even protested to have our voices heard.
This is what the Neighborhood Coalition of Greater Phoenix had to say today about the House's rejection of HB2191:
House Bill 2191 was a misguided attempt to address the state’s housing crisis by undercutting local control of land use and by circumventing important processes that inform and involve the public.
While HB2191’s supporters made numerous changes to the bill as they tried to gain support, the bill’s one-size-fits-all core provision to exempt religious institutions from having to comply with local land-use requirements remained, putting neighborhoods at risk of disruptive development projects.
The House’s consideration of HB2191 was marred by severe restrictions on committee hearing testimony and, later, virtually no public airing of the changes made to the bill amid the sponsors’ last-minute maneuvering. Despite that lack of transparency, it was clear the bill stood on wobbly legs at the start of Thursday’s House vote and deservedly so.
It is frustrating that the bill’s supporters considered putting established neighborhoods at risk while ignoring more effective and less harmful ways to address the housing shortage, starting with allowing cities and towns to limit short-term rentals that take thousands of homes off the permanent housing market.
Thank you for your efforts to make every version of HB2191 better for Arizona and its neighborhoods. We appreciate you taking time to write or call in your concerns to all legislators. While HB2191 is unlikely to be revived this session, we are still following SB1229, the Starter Homes Act, which passed the State Senate and is currently in the amendment process awaiting committee assignment in the House.
More to come!