The cost of housing in Virginia continues to rise and one of the reasons claimed for the continuing increase is the lack of supply in areas where people want to live.
Earlier this month, Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order to create a new initiative to build up to 5,000 units of workforce housing throughout the Commonwealth.
“Maintaining Virginia’s economic growth requires increased housing development, yet the housing market has been constrained by limited supply, burdensome regulations, increasing construction costs, and high interest rates,” reads a section of Executive Order #42.
Citing data compiled by the Virginia Housing and Community Development, the order states that there are around 3.6 million housing units in the Commonwealth but there is a housing demand for at least 4.1 million units.
“For workforce housing specifically, the current estimated shortfall is 41,000 homes,” the order continues.
Some details from the executive order:
- The Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s Virginia Business Ready Sites program will begin to require organizations seeking funding to provide a housing plan for any new jobs created.
- The order claims that changes to the building codes have reduced the cost of new home construction by $24,000 but the footnote does not cite a specific study.
- The order claims that the Virginia Permitting Transparency System created by Executive Order #39 is intended to expedite environmental permits and the order claims those processed by the Department of Environmental Quality are being cleared 70 percent faster than before the beginning of the Youngkin administration. This one points to a dashboard that can be used to track performance.
“Localities, which control zoning and planning, and where control of the vast majority of housing development permits and regulations resides, must drive similar processing time improvements,” the order continues.
The same day that Executive Order #42 was unveiled, Governor Youngkin also announced the the Workforce Housing Investment Program which will be administered by the entity formerly known as the Virginia Housing Development Authority.
“Virginia Housing will provide loans, loan subsidies, and grants up to $3 million to localities and non-profits to develop housing for workers earning 80 to 120 percent of the area median income and 150 percent in rural areas,” reads the order.
To be eligible for the program, a locality must be within a 30 minute drive of a business adding new jobs.
Guidelines for the program are not yet available on the Virginia Housing website. There is a webinar scheduled for December 17 at 2 p.m.
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