California Gov. Newsom signs law fast-tracking affordable housing on surplus land owned by churches, colleges (foxnews.com)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in Sacramento on March 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

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• Gavin Newsom has signed two laws to fast-track low-income housing in California, a state that makes up almost a third of America’s homeless population.
• One of the signed laws will allow California developers to bypass many costly and lengthy rules to build affordable housing on surplus land owned by colleges and religious institutions.
• Newsom also extended the life of a 2018 housing law by 10 years, which would allow developers to bypass most local permitting processes to build affordable homes.
  

Religious institutions and nonprofit colleges in California will be allowed to turn their parking lots and other properties into low-income housing under a new law aimed at combating the ongoing homeless crisis.

The law, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday, rezones land owned by nonprofit colleges and religious institutions, such as churches, mosques, and synagogues, to allow for affordable housing. Starting in 2024, they can bypass most local permitting and environmental review rules that can be costly and lengthy. The law is set to sunset in 2036.

California is home to nearly a third of all homeless people in the U.S. The crisis has sparked a movement among religious institutions, dubbed "yes in God’s backyard," or "YIGBY," in cities across the state, with a number of projects already in the works.