The puritans who founded America’s divinity schools could not have imagined that they might need a course on property negotiation. But these days, in addition to counselling the dying and giving sermons on Sundays, some pastors are at the forefront of a new housing project. Churches across the country are working with non-profit groups to convert their under-used land into affordable flats. Riffing off the anti-development slogan “Not in my backyard” (NIMBY), they are advocating something cheerier: “Yes in God’s backyard” (YIGBY).

The movement is the result of two trends colliding: a worsening housing crunch and the hollowing-out of places of worship. In the past decade house prices rose by 42%, mortgage rates nearly doubled and, as cities filled up, restrictive zoning laws prevented new building, leaving the country with a deficit of up to 7m homes of the sort that ordinary folk can afford. Meanwhile the share of Americans who attend church weekly fell from 31% to 24%, according to the Public Religion Research Institute, a pollster. Covid-19 left pews emptier and many churches had to close. YIGBY-proponents, like David Bowers of Enterprise Community Partners, a housing charity, reckon that provides an opportunity to repurpose the properties. “We call it radical common sense,” he says…