Biography
Sergio Lopez currently serves as Council member in the City of Campbell, CA. With longtime roots in the community and a lifelong commitment to service, he has worked at all levels of government, from the South Bay to the White House. A historian and author, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Campbell Historical Museum Foundation, and his writing has been published in the Sacramento Bee, Teen Vogue, and America magazine. Lopez graduated from Yale University and is pursuing his master's at Duke Divinity School.
Paper Abstract
This presentation will focus on the opportunity for churches to address housing insecurity in their neighborhoods — not merely as charity, but as hospitality and as a form of ministry. It will begin with a review of literature situating local land use decisions in an ecological context. With a focus on the housing crisis in California as a case study, it will demonstrate through a literature review how land use decisions drive the fossil fuel crisis through increased traffic, as well as exacerbating difficulties around wildfire management by pushing homes into increasingly rural (and fire-prone) areas.
This talk will also present a theological foundation for addressing these issues, both from an ecological perspective, as well as by making an argument for housing justice as a form of ministry. Recent studies suggest the impact from utilizing church property for increased housing could be tremendous, and a growing YIMBY/YIGBY (Yes In My Backyard/Yes In God's Backyard), as well as either recent or proposed legislation, could serve to make the most of this opportunity, should churches choose to seize it.