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Senate committee hears bill to ease density‑bonus rules for affordable housing on religious land

Senate Housing Committee · February 20, 2026
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Sponsors and advocates told the Senate Housing Committee that reducing the required share of affordable units for density bonuses will make development on underused faith‑institution land more feasible; staff said the change reduces the current 100% threshold to 50% (low‑income) or 20% (very low income).

Senate Housing Committee members heard testimony Feb. 20 on Second Substitute House Bill 18‑59, which would make it easier for religious organizations to use their land for affordable housing by lowering the affordable‑unit thresholds required to qualify for a local density bonus.

Melissa Van Gorkam, staff to the committee, told members the current law grants a density bonus when 100% of units on religious‑owned property are set aside or occupied by low‑income households and…

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