YIGBY (“Yes In God’s Backyard”)
YIGBY stands for “Yes In God’s Backyard,” a movement that encourages religious organizations to use their land for affordable housing development. It aims to address the housing crisis by allowing faith-based institutions to bypass local zoning restrictions and repurpose underutilized properties for community housing needs. The “Yes In God’s Backyard” Movement and the Preservation of Religious Spaces
ULI has selected Rick Reinhard, principal of Niagara Consulting Group, as the recipient of the 2023–2024 ULI Apgar Thought Leader Award, which recognizes the authors of outstanding works written for Urban Land magazine.
Retaining a spiritual identity while serving up a mix of uses to the greater neighborhood
From the Institute’s iconic Emerging Trends in Real Estate® United States and Canada 2024—to in-depth reporting on distressed debt and opportunities, the rise of industrial outdoor storage, and the “YIGBY” movement (“Yes, In God’s Backyard”), this ranked list reflects Urban Land magazine readers’ top choices for the first half of the year.
A tsunami of emptying houses of worship—up to 100,000, according to one religious source—is washing across America. Developing intelligent reuses and redevelopments for these properties will make the difference between a community flourishing and struggling. Housing advocates view underused faith properties as natural sites to develop projects that help close the great national gap on affordable housing.
