America has a serious shortage of housing in many parts of the country, and the main cause of the probem is exclusionary zoning: regulations that severely restrict the amount and types of housing that can be built in many areas. One increasingly popular proposal for addressing the housing crisis is "Yes in God's Backyard": giving religious organizations like churches, synagogues, and mosques exemptions from zoning rules and other restrictions that would otherwise prevent them from building housing on their land. Rachel Cohen of Vox has a helpful summary of this idea and the growing support for it:
