LOPC has an advocacy policy that guides our church in advocacy work that serves to strengthen LOPC’s commitment to mission and defines a process by which the session can thoughtfully engage with different proposed legislation. After working through LOPC’s advocacy policy and process, we are excited that the LOPC session could endorse California Senate Bill 4.
On February 28th, LOPC’s session voted to endorse California Senate Bill 4 — the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act. Senate Bill 4 provides a streamlined process for religious organizations and nonprofit colleges to develop affordable housing on their property regardless of local zoning restrictions. While this Bill would not implicate any of LOPC’s land, since we have no unused available land to apply for affordable housing, it would greatly expedite the process and expense of other churches (both within and non-members of the San Francisco Presbytery) in seeking approval for the affordable housing they would like to build. The request for support has been vetted through and approved unanimously by LOPC’s Mission team, which received it from our partners: the Multi-Faith Action Coalition and Hope Solutions. This advocacy is an important step in our church’s mission work continue to work towards addressing root causes at play in the work of our mission partners.
To learn more about California Senate Bill 4, please see the Fact Sheet below that provides some key information about the bill and the role it can play in addressing the affordable housing shortage in California.
Also, we encourage our members, if they so choose, to use the letter below to advocate as an individual with their representative(s).
For more questions please contact Pastor Lauren or LOPC Clerk of Session Terry Clark.
SPIRITUAL PRACTICE OF ADVOCACY
APRIL 23 @ 11:11 AM – 1:00 PM
The Racial Equity and Engagement Team invites you to a 90-minute workshop on the Spiritual Practice of Advocacy with guest speaker Rev. Sandhya Jha. We will be discussing advocacy and how the church can benefit from this practice!
Register Here Informational Flyer