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.

Pastor Alandus Sims said his father, Arthur Sims, bought the land for the church in 1992 with a focus on serving the community.

“The land was the purpose for which he was going to base a platform to meet people at the point of their pain by connecting that pain to resources,” Sims said.

Church member Jacquelyn Wisenbaker said she believes the apartments could benefit people in the congregation and the surrounding community.

“I’m sure there are some people here who would benefit from living in one of those apartments, and we have people around in the community who would also benefit from those apartments,” Wisenbaker said.

Sims said the apartments would provide affordable living options for church members, teachers, firefighters, police officers and others.

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said the project will help meet residents’ critical housing needs.

“It keeps the overall price, the cost of rent payments for people from senior citizens to young families to be able to afford a place to live,” Demings said.

Sims said county leaders have approved the project and are working to finalize funding. He said his father, who died two years ago, worked throughout his life to help others achieve equality, and affordable housing is part of that legacy.

“My father will see the culmination and the manifestation of what he fought his whole life to achieve,” Sims said.

Groundbreaking for the project is expected late next year.

Orange County’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund has paid for more than 2,200 new affordable housing units since 2020. The county has set aside $160 million to build or preserve 11,000 affordable housing units by 2030.