[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5601 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5601
To preempt State and local laws that prevent the construction of
affordable housing on faith lands, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 26, 2025
Mr. Peters (for himself and Mr. Edwards) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To preempt State and local laws that prevent the construction of
affordable housing on faith lands, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Faith in Housing Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) An underproduction in housing units relative to demand
has led to a housing shortage of millions of homes in the
United States.
(2) Lack of housing supply and rising rent costs exacerbate
inequality and reduce opportunity for many people in the United
States.
(3) People in the United States who are unable to afford
rising housing costs can fall into homelessness, causing both
personal tragedy and challenges to public and charitable social
services.
(4) Houses of worship from every major faith tradition are
involved in charitable activities to support low-income people
in the United States facing housing insecurity.
(5) The efforts of houses of worship to shelter homeless
people in the United States, provide affordable or supportive
housing, and serve the poor are obstructed by land use
regulation that prohibits or curtails the ability of the house
of worship to meet this mission.
(6) The ability of houses of worship to serve their mission
would be enhanced by allowing them the discretion to provide
for the construction of affordable homes and homeless shelters.
(7) The construction of housing is a form of interstate
commerce that affects the economy and social welfare of the
United States. State and local land use regulation has national
and interstate effects on the housing shortage, level of
housing insecurity and homelessness, and need for social
services.
SEC. 3. PREEMPTION OF STATE AND LOCAL LAWS PREVENTING AFFORDABLE
HOUSING CONSTRUCTION ON FAITH LANDS.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Affordable housing.--The term ``affordable housing''
means--
(A) housing that complies with--
(i) State or local building codes at the
site of construction;
(ii) The International Residential Code or
International Building Code of the
International Code Council, as applicable to
the type of structure; or
(iii) The Manufactured Home Construction
and Safety Standards and other regulations
applicable to manufactured homes adopted under
the Manufactured Housing Construction and
Safety Standards Act (42 U.S.C. 5401 et seq.);
(B) housing that is deed-restricted to be
affordable as rental units or for homeownership to
residents at a range of percentages of area median
income, provided that--
(i) the average cost among all housing
units is affordable to low-income families as
determined under section 3(b)(2) of the United
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C.
1437a(b)(2)); and
(ii) all units are affordable at or below
140 percent of the area median income;
(C) housing that will remain affordable, according
to binding commitments, for 30 years from construction
or substantial rehabilitation, without regard to the
term of the mortgage or to transfer of ownership;
(D) housing that may include preexisting or limited
non-residential uses, including--
(i) ground-floor facilities, such as
childcare centers, operated by nonprofit
community-based organizations for the provision
of educational, recreational, or social
services for use by the residents of the
affordable housing and residents of the local
community in which the housing is located; and
(ii) any preexisting religious
institutional use, if such use is limited to
the preexisting total square footage;
(E) housing that may set aside not more than 5
percent of units for employees of the house of worship,
or not more than one unit if the total number of units
is at least five units, and shall otherwise comply with
the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) without
regard to 42 U.S.C. 3607; and
(F) for affordable rental housing, housing that is
managed by a nonprofit property manager with experience
managing affordable housing, that has entered into an
agreement for such purpose with the house of worship.
(2) Faith land.--The term ``faith land'' means real
estate--
(A) owned on or before January 1, 2023, by a house
of worship; or
(B) owned for a period of not less than 5 years by
a house of worship.
(3) House of worship.--The term ``house of worship'' means
a church or a convention or association of churches as
described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(i) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such
Code.
(4) Site-specific hazard.--The term ``site-specific
hazard'' means a flood, landslide, wildfire, or similar severe
disaster hazard, on the site of construction.
(b) Protection of Land Use for Affordable Housing.--
(1) Authority to use faith land for affordable housing.--
The owner of faith land shall, upon notifying in writing any
applicable State or local zoning authority of its election to
invoke the terms of this Act, have sole discretion to construct
or substantially rehabilitate affordable housing on such land,
if such affordable housing--
(A) is in or affects interstate or foreign
commerce; or
(B) is constructed using Federal assistance.
(2) Relation to state law.--
(A) In general.--Any law, regulation, or other
requirement of a State or political subdivision of a
State that is inconsistent with this section is
preempted by the requirements under paragraph (1), but
only to the extent of such inconsistency. Any provision
of such law, regulation, or other requirement that is
narrowly tailored to prevent site-specific hazards, and
applies on equal terms to housing constructed under
paragraph (1) and to all other residential construction
in the jurisdiction, is not preempted.
(B) Inspection.--A State or political subdivision
of a State shall have the right to reasonably inspect
affordable housing described in paragraph (1) to
confirm that the housing conforms to the requirements
described in subsection (a)(1).
(3) Cause of action.--A person may assert a violation of
this section as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and
obtain injunctive or declaratory relief.
(4) Attorneys' fees.--Section 722(b) of the Revised
Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended--(1) by inserting
``Faith in Housing Act of 2025'', after ``Religious Land Use
and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.''
(5) Applicability.--This Act shall not apply to the
construction or substantial rehabilitation of affordable
housing on faith land unless the owner submits written notice
of its intention to invoke the terms of this Act in accordance
with paragraph (b)(1) of this section.
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