Virginia Passes New Housing Package Aimed at Affordability

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger began signing a series of housing bills as the state takes aim at improving housing affordability.

The governor said the General Assembly sent 1,100 bills for her to review, with energy and health care topics also among them. The governor began signing bills this week, many of which follow an affordability push she championed once elected.

"I'm excited that so many bills in our Affordable Virginia Plan passed the General Assembly and passed with bipartisan support," Spanberger said in a video posted to social media. "We're continuing to review every single bill."

Spanberger issued a set of executive orders aimed at housing when she took office in January. Her housing plan includes expanding how local governments finance housing through bonding authority. She also directed more state investment toward new construction that expands attainable options for working families. 

What are Virginia's new housing laws?

Companion bills HB1227 and SB729 strengthened local bonding authority, increasing the state ceiling on private activity bonds, as well as the Virginia Housing Development Authority and local housing authorities.

Another set of companion bills, including SB628, will establish a program in the Department of Housing and Community Development to identify factors that could lead to eviction and create diversionary programs.

Companion bills SB346 and HB655 will allow manufactured housing by-right in areas where other site-built housing is allowed. The bills also prevent zoning or land use regulations that treat manufactured homes differently.

Median list prices in the commonwealth have climbed 34.4% since 2019, according to data from Realtor.com®. The Realtor.com® State-by-State Housing Report Card gave the 10th state in the union a B-.

Still in the Hunt

The Virginia Realtors Public Policy Committee considered about 130 bills before landing on nine for their formal legislative agenda this year.

The committee had also wanted to see bills involving early lease terminations for retiring military personnel and more protections for deed fraud. Other bills involve increasing local government homeownership grants and streamlining the process for real estate licenses.

Two ideas failed to find traction this year. The Realtors® want to see a five-year freeze on capital gains tax on the sale of a primary residence. That idea has been increasingly popular at the national level. The Realtors plan to continue advocating for it.

Another would create a first-time homebuyer incentive for those in the 80% to 120% of the median income range for the area. Several states have similar ideas on the books or under consideration, aimed at making housing more attainable.

"Both chambers’ money committees were navigating real economic uncertainty this session, a headwind that made even well-received proposals more difficult to fund," the Realtors said. "This is the start of the conversation, not the end of it."