S2720-119

In Committee

Yes in God's Backyard Act

119th Congress Introduced Sep 4, 2025

Summary

What This Bill Does

The bill amends Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act by adding a new subtitle establishing definitions, a technical assistance program, and a Challenge Grant program for affordable rental housing on, establishes definitions for the new subtitle including affordable rental housing (rent not more than 30% of household income for households at or below 100% AMI), covered household, extremely low-income families, and establishes a technical assistance program to help faith-based organizations, universities, and local governments remove barriers to affordable housing development. It relies on grants, appropriations, and definition changes. The main policy areas are Housing, Education, and Finance.

Who Benefits and How

Faith-based organizations could face fewer barriers, Institutions of higher education could face fewer barriers, and Affordable housing developers could gain revenue opportunities.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Federal taxpayers could face higher costs and HUD would take on compliance duties.

Key Provisions

  • Amends Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act by adding a new subtitle establishing definitions, a technical assistance program, and a Challenge Grant program for affordable rental housing on...
  • Establishes definitions for the new subtitle including affordable rental housing (rent not more than 30% of household income for households at or below 100% AMI), covered household, extremely low-income families...
  • Establishes a technical assistance program to help faith-based organizations, universities, and local governments remove barriers to affordable housing development.
  • Establishes a competitive Challenge Grant program at $50 million per year for FY2026-2031 for state and local governments with policies to remove barriers to affordable housing on faith-based and university property.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

The bill amends Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act by adding a new subtitle establishing definitions, a technical assistance program, and a Challenge Grant program for affordable rental housing on, establishes definitions for the new subtitle including affordable rental housing (rent not more than 30% of household income for households at or below 100% AMI), covered household, extremely low-income families, and establishes a technical assistance program to help faith-based organizations, universities, and local governments remove barriers to affordable housing development.

Key Policy Areas

Housing, Education, Finance

Primary Purpose

The bill amends Title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act by adding a new subtitle establishing definitions, a technical assistance program, and a Challenge Grant program for affordable rental housing on, establishes definitions for the new subtitle including affordable rental housing (rent not more than 30% of household income for households at or below 100% AMI), covered household, extremely low-income families, and establishes a technical assistance program to help faith-based organizations, universities, and local governments remove barriers to affordable housing development.

Policy Domains

Housing Education Finance

Technical Assistance Program (Sec. 291)

Identified Gains
  • Faith-based organizations
  • Institutions of higher education
  • Affordable housing developers
  • State and local governments with barrier-removal policies
  • Low-income households below 60% AMI
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Faith-based organizations: , ,
Affordable housing developers: ,
Institutions of higher education: ,
Low-income households below 60% AMI:
State and local governments with barrier-removal policies:
Identified Costs
  • Federal taxpayers
  • HUD
Model: codex-gpt-5:bulk-repair | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
HUD:
Federal taxpayers: ,

Legislative Progress

In Committee
Introduced Committee Passed
Sep 4, 2025

Mr. Warner (for himself, Ms. Blunt Rochester, Mr. Kim, and …

Sep 4, 2025

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, …

Sep 4, 2025

Introduced in Senate

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

General Public
7 mentions across 3 clauses
+5 positive -2 negative

Homeless individuals and families, Households at or below 100% AMI, Low-income households

Positive-direction: Homeless individuals and families, Households at or below 100% AMI, Low-income households, Low-income households below 60% AMI, Veterans

Negative-direction: Taxpayers

Government
4 mentions across 3 clauses
+3 positive -1 negative

HUD, Local governments, State and local governments

Positive-direction: Local governments, State and local governments, State and local governments with barrier-removal policies

Negative-direction: HUD

Nonprofits
4 mentions across 4 clauses
+4 positive

Faith-based organizations, Faith-based organizations with excess property

Real Estate
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+2 positive

Affordable housing developers

Education
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+2 positive

Institutions of higher education

4/5
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Housing Education Finance
Actor Mappings
"the_secretary"
→ Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
"partnership_center"
→ Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Domains
Housing Religion Education
Actor Mappings
"the_secretary"
→ Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
"eligible_grantee"
→ Units of local government, states, metropolitan planning organizations, multi-jurisdiction entities

Note: {'term': 'The Secretary', 'resolution': 'Refers to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development throughout'}

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

1 term
"" §290

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology