St. Petersburg, Florida. By Seán Kinane / WMNF News (29 June 2026).
Last week, St Petersburg launched the ” Yes in God’s Backyard” program. It aims to provide housing through unused land owned by congregations.
The program will help veterans and youth who have aged out of foster care.
St Petersburg council members approved an ordinance last December to adopt the program into its city code. It is the first city in the state to adopt this provision.
Reverend Doctor Kenneth Irby is the Faith and Community Justice liaison for the city of St Petersburg.
He says that this is an exciting yet important opportunity to help solve the city’s limited housing issues.
“Affordable housing is inextricably connected to available land. God’s not making new land, so we have to be wise stewards of the available property. And fortunately, several faith organizations own land that could be developed for this purpose.”
The program is partnering with the Florida Housing Coalition and the Foundation for a Healthy St Petersburg to educate local church organizations interested in participating.
The participating organizations will provide insight on how participants should plan and navigate to execute this plan.
“In addition to local development, the city is offering to partner and to educate faith organizations on what it takes to develop those properties, in spaces like site planning and navigating the funding resources that are needed for the architectural design. The environmental review, all of the elements of property development that many faith organizations haven’t had to deal with since they built their first structures.”
This month, the “Yes in God’s Backyard” program will host its first informational session for local congregations.
Congregations such as Palm Lake Christian academy are already performing housing projects on their land.