St. Pete becomes first Florida city to formalize church property housing initiative
By Emma Behrmann
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jul 14, 2026

St. Petersburg has seen several church properties transformed into affordable housing, and now the city wants to make it an official program.

St. Pete has launched its “Yes in God’s Backyard” program, a play on the “Yes In My Backyard” movement that seeks to loosen government restrictions on what property owners can do with their land and create more housing options. St. Pete was the first local government in Florida to adopt the YIGBY provision into its city code, and the launch of the program formally kicks off a new initiative to help local churches explore developing affordable housing on land they own.

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