As a faith leader, and as a human, what I am thinking about this holiday season are the faces of all those so deeply impacted by the high cost of housing—the woman working three jobs who still can’t afford rent;he teacher forced to move two counties away from the students she loves; the family living in their car in the shadow of empty buildings.

They are not statistics. They are our neighbors. And if my faith means anything at all, it must speak to this crisis with clarity and conviction.

While there is a broad range of faith traditions, some universal truths remain foundational: compassion, integrity, responsibility, and God’s radical, uncompromising love. These aren’t abstract concepts. They are calls to action that thunder through every religious tradition I know.

When I read the Hebrew prophets, I hear Amos crying out against those who “sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.” I hear Isaiah demanding we “loose the chains of injustice” and “provide the poor wanderer with shelter.” I hear Micah asking what the Lord requires: “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Jesus didn’t mince words either. “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” Not, “I was a stranger and you formed a committee to study the issue.” Not, “I was a stranger and you worried about property values.” You welcomed me. Period.

This isn’t about charity. This is about justice. This is about recognizing that housing is not a commodity to be traded for profit while people suffer. Housing is a human right. Housing is the foundation upon which people build their lives, raise their families, pursue their education, maintain their health, and contribute to their communities.

What could be more “essential” than stable housing? We praised essential workers during the pandemic. Now many of these very people face eviction with nowhere to go. Where is our moral outrage now?

When we talk about housing, we’re talking about who gets to live with dignity in our communities. We’re talking about teachers and nurses and janitors and cooks—those who weave the very fabric of our society. We’re talking about seniors on fixed incomes and young families just starting out. We’re talking about people with disabilities who need stable homes to access care.

If we truly believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person, then we must believe they deserve a safe, stable, affordable place to call home.

Our congregations sit on some of the most valuable land in our communities. Some faith communities are already leading the way, building affordable housing on their land, opening their facilities as warming centers and navigation centers, advocating for policy changes, educating their members about NIMBYism and exclusionary zoning. But we need more. So much more.

We need clergy to preach about housing from the pulpit as often as they preach about any other moral issue. We need faith communities to show up at city council meetings and planning commission hearings. We need people of faith to examine their own resistance to housing in their neighborhoods and ask themselves: whose comfort are we centering? Whose dignity are we ignoring?

The housing crisis is a spiritual crisis. It is a moral crisis. It is a human crisis. 

Do we believe in human dignity? Then we must rage against a system that forces people to choose between rent and food.

Do we believe in the kinship of all people? Then we must see the housed and the unhoused as family.

Our faith teaches us to feed the hungry. To clothe the naked. To welcome the stranger. To house the homeless.

Regardless of your faith, these are core values we should all hold. This holiday season, let’s recommit to upholding these values.

Rev. Dr. G. Penny Nixon is the Faith Director for the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County and Minister Emerita of the Congregational Church of San Mateo, where she served as Senior Minister from 2007-2022.

Four jurisdictions across the Bay Area still do not have certified housing elements, almost three years after the January 31, 2023 deadline–and two of them are in San Mateo County. The County itself and Half Moon Bay both remain out of compliance with state law, each for different reasons. 

Both jurisdictions face growing pressure from the state Department of Housing and Community Development, which has sent letters urging faster completion. Their cases each illustrate different challenges jurisdictions face meeting local housing needs. 

San Mateo County has a conditionally certified housing element, but the County has not yet completed legally required rezonings for denser housing in Unincorporated Colma, Broadmoore, and El Granada. Until it completes its rezones, the County will remain out of compliance with state law. 

While other jurisdictions completed their rezonings concurrently with housing element adoption, San Mateo County spent over a year deciding which areas to rezone without simultaneously drafting the new zoning. Some areas, such as El Granada, require additional review under the Coastal Commission, but most parcels slated for denser housing have no such constraints.

Having already begun its housing element process late, the County is now far behind. In September, the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) sent the County a letter urging faster completion of the necessary rezonings. However, the County doesn’t plan to complete its rezones until the middle of next year at the earliest.

Half Moon Bay has been reluctant to remove constraints to housing, particularly voter-approved Measure D–a growth cap ordinance implemented by city voters that effectively limits the number of homes that can be built within the city on any given year to approximately 70. HCD maintains that accessory dwelling units should not count toward the Measure D growth cap; the city maintains it cannot change the classification of ADUs entirely without a new voter measure. 

Furthermore, Half Moon Bay’s City Council has moved slowly on final approval of a land lease with Mercy Housing to complete 555 Kelly, a proposed 40-home farmworker housing development–and an essential part of the city’s housing element. Though the project is theoretically entitled, it cannot move forward without approval of the land lease. 

Both cities face consequences for noncompliance with state law, particularly loss of funding for basic infrastructure and road maintenance. Cities without certified housing elements are ineligible for the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program and Caltrans Sustainable Communities Grants, both major sources of infrastructure funding.