This story was reported and written by Radio IQ.
Virginia is among states with the steepest increases in rent according to recent surveys. And as this year’s legislative session draws close to an end, few efforts remain to address the issue.
A 2025 report from Construction Coverage –an analysis firm in that industry– suggests rent across Virginia will rise on average by more than 10-percent this year compared to last. Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg says two paths remain to address the issue.
“They’re both about cutting red tape and getting houses online faster,” the Henrico County Democrat told Radio IQ.
The more controversial effort aims to set housing growth targets for localities. It offers a handful of changes for localities to make. But if changes aren’t made and housing zoning requests keep getting denied a new statewide board would step in to see more housing get built.
On the House floor, Delegate Keith Hodges said growth targets would contribute to rural decline.
“We’re seeing families broken with our children leaving to find jobs,” the Urbana-based Republican said, suggesting over 70% of his constituents already drive out of his district for work.
Democratic Delegate Dan Helmer’s version of the bill is still alive thanks to a party-line vote. Helmer said the problems of housing and local economies are intertwined.
“There is no focus on the economy without focusing on allowing people to live affordably in those communities so we can bring those jobs to those communities,” the Fairfax-based official told Radio IQ.
VanValkenburg's version of the bill died early in the session; Helmer said conversations with stakeholders since then have kept his version alive so far.
“[We're] holding folks accountable for increasing supply for the first time, so it's just taken a lot of conversations,” Helmer said. “We’re trying to bring everyone along on this journey, but regardless of where this bill goes in the end, this isn’t going away. It’s time for anybody stopping the train to get off the tracks.”
Among likely holdouts are Virginia's powerful lobbying groups for localities: the Virginia Municipal League and the Virgina Association of Counties.
In their 2025 legislative guide, VML warned, "Localities must maintain control of local land use decisions. Neither the state nor the federal government should usurp or pre-empt a locality’s authority to make such decisions; nor should they impose requirements that weaken planning and land use functions."
An attempt to reach VML for up-to-date comment on Helmer's bill was not returned by press time, but VACO said they did back a bill from Prince William County Democratic Senator Jeremy McPike which they said expands optional affordable dwelling unit program to all localities.
"[McPike's bill] requires a locality, before adopting a program, to create an advisory committee of stakeholders that includes residents, developers, real estate professionals, affordable housing advocates, and finance professionals," a spokesperson for VACO told Radio IQ in an email. "This provision will help to craft successful programs at the local level."
But the county-repping group does oppose Helmer's effort, citing its preemption of local control. A fiscal impact estimate on Vanvalkenburg's version estimating millions in costs to localities likely also didn't help.
"Housing growth is necessarily accompanied by growth in infrastructure and services, such as roads and schools," the impact statement warned. "Counties also raised concern about potential litigation expenses if a development went through the Housing Approval Board process."
Still, Helmer's bill includes a reenactment clause which would give more time for the effort to take root. And Helmer hopes localities will come to the table to support it eventually.
"We don’t want to push this without consultation, we need a partnership that addresses the massive level of this challenge," he said. "If we keep operating how we’re operating we’re going to see more exodus from Virginia.”
The second, less controversial effort involves cutting red tape on approving new residential zoning and setting tighter deadlines for approval. Delegate Marcus Simon has a bill in the House similar to Vanvalkenburg’s in the Senate. Simon pointed to Governor Glenn Youngkin’s support for easing barriers to construction as part of the bill’s impetus.
“A lot of my folks said, ‘this is a Republican-sounding bill,’ right?" Simon told Radio IQ. "But it cuts some of that government red tape, will hopefully increase supply and speed things along and lower costs too.”
"This is to sort out those real problem cases where something gets tied up for months or years over technical or administrative issues,” he added.
That effort flew through the House on a bipartisan vote, but there was one vote in opposition from Republican Delegate Geary Higgins.
In a brief phone interview Tuesday, Higgins told Radio IQ he'd heard from the mayors of each of the seven towns in his Northern Virginia ex-urb district and they feared it would increase costs.
"It might be well intentioned, but it's going to end up costing money because they don’t have the bandwidth to move projects through," he warned, suggesting the towns feared they'd have to hire additional staff at a cost they couldn't afford.
As for setting growth targets, a Democratic majority may drag it over the finish line giving Youngkin the final say.
Other housing issues are also working their way through Virginia's legislative bodies, though their futures -or final impact compared to their original goal- are less known.
Delegate Joshua Cole wants to offer $10,000 in a first-time homebuyer's tax credit. It's estimated cost of $15 million a year was too rich for a Senate finance committee which killed the effort Tuesday morning.
"It's disappointing the Senate didn't vote favorably on this bill that's so needed for thousands of working families and new families in our Commonwealth," the Fredericksburg-area Democrat told Radio IQ in a text message Tuesday. He hopes it'll survive the budget reconciliation process despite the Senate vote.
And a Faith in Housing effort we reported on early in the session is still hanging on, though it's been watered down as it worked its way through committees.
The current version, carried by Richmond Democratic Delegate Betsy Carr, enables localities to take different steps to aid faith groups that want to build housing on their land. Still, advocate Sheila Herlihy Hennessee with the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy said it could speed up the construction for the nearly 600 units in the pre-development process on church owned land right now.
"Faith communities around Virginia already want to use their property to support their communities, and this bill paves the way for them to answer the need for housing," Herlihy Hennessee told Radio IQ.
And finally, a bill from Democratic delegate Briana D. Sewell allowing the much-lauded accessory dwelling unit, or ADUs (or as Senator Bill Stanley calls them, granny pods) will likely survive. But VanValkenburg said the local enabling language is a shadow of earlier versions that hoped for construction by-right.
"ADU's are not the panacea, but there’s not one policy area for housing," VanValkenburg said before noting the current bill's success may reduce the legislature's appetite for bigger steps in the future. "We need to come back with ADU legislation that's stronger, but it's going to take a few years."
Helmer said something similar about faith in housing, that such steps will nibble at a problem that requires much bigger bites.
“Both low-income and high-income districts, they’re worried about housing," Helmer told Radio IQ. "They say their kids are never going to be able to afford a house on their own, and we need to fix it.”
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
