Housing is the top concern for Virginians ahead of the Nov. 4 elections.
A recent poll from YouGov on behalf of the Commonwealth Housing Coalition found in Hampton Roads, 74% of respondents believe there are not enough homes in Virginia for average people to buy or rent.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition found in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent, Virginians would need to earn on average $33.64 an hour, or about $70,000 a year.
The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press asked the candidates running for governor, former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, about their housing policies. Here’s what they said:
Spanberger
Spanberger, the Democratic candidate, lists housing as a component of her Affordable Virginia plan, which also includes healthcare and energy policies.
“These tools range from contributions to local housing trust funds to incentivizing development near public transit to making it easier to convert unused commercial space into housing,” she said in a statement. “But the Commonwealth also has a clear role to play in bringing down housing costs — and come January, I will work in close collaboration with our state agencies to cut red tape and streamline state review and permitting processes that slow down construction and drive up housing costs for Virginians.”
Other policy proposals in Spanberger’s housing plan include incentives for construction of starter homes or smaller homes for first time homeowners, encouraging the redevelopment of abandoned commercial buildings for residential use, increasing funding to the Virginia Housing Trust Fund for affordable housing, and re-establishing an Interagency Council on Homelessness.
Spanberger’s plan also calls for giving localities a transferrable right of first refusal to buy public supported housing — when affordable housing comes up for sale, or the time that it is contracted to be affordable expires, localities or other qualified groups would get first crack at buying that property with the intention of preserving it as affordable housing. Similar legislation passed the General Assembly but was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who wrote that it was “an unnecessary and excessive intrusion by local governments into property transactions, interfering with negotiations between private parties and prioritizing public entities over private buyers.”
Youngkin also twice vetoed legislation that would allow any Virginia locality to use Low Income Housing Tax Credits to adopt an affordable housing program by amending its zoning ordinances. Currently, Virginia Code only grants that authority to some localities, including those with a mayor or county executive.
In his most recent veto explanation, Youngkin called the bill unnecessary.
“In general, local governments should take the price of housing into account when considering their zoning policies,” he wrote. “Current law allows certain local governments with well-documented housing affordability issues the ability to enact such ordinances.”
Spanberger indicated she would sign those bills if they came across her desk as governor, as well as a bill vetoed by Youngkin that would extend the timeline before landlords can begin eviction proceedings from five to 14 days. Speaking at a virtual disability forum last month, she said that would allow people time to get their next paycheck before being evicted due to late rent payment.
“We know that eviction can so frequently lead to longer-term homelessness, and we must cut that process off,” she said.
At the same event, Spanberger called for strengthening Virginia’s Fair Housing Office to reinforce anti-discrimination laws.
Earle-Sears
Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate for governor, did not respond to several requests for an interview or to answer questions about housing policies she supports. Her website does not reference a housing plan, though it does cite reducing the cost of living generally as a policy goal.
“(Earle-Sears) will fight for common-sense tax cuts that help all Virginians like eliminating the unfair car tax,” the website reads. “She will scour the government books to cut wasteful government spending and job-killing regulations because taxpayers know how to spend their money and run their businesses better than government.”
Radio IQ reported that Earle-Sears supported “matching infrastructure grants, streamlining approval processes and expanding tax initiatives for public-private affordable housing partnerships” while preserving local authority.
Earle-Sears also spoke at last month’s disability forum, where gubernatorial candidates were asked what they would do to increase accessible, affordable housing for people with disabilities.
“This is an issue that’s important to me, as you can imagine, because I said that I was the director of a homeless shelter for women and children,” she said. “The way to make affordable housing accessible is through increasing the supply.”
Earle-Sears said she was looking to other states, such as North Carolina, for solutions to tackle the housing crisis.
“They are able to bring housing to the market much, much quicker than we are. That’s because they have gotten rid of useless regulations that continue to haunt us because it takes so many days to till the first bit of ground, so many days to get the map guides, so many days to get the permits,” she said. “There’s a whole lot of reform that needs to happen when it comes to zoning laws and codes that restrict free market.”
The lieutenant governor said she would also support allowing more accessory dwelling units, like in-law suites or apartment garages on existing residential properties, which she said would allow elderly people and people with disabilities to live on the premises of family members.
Earle-Sears also said housing solutions for people with disabilities would need to be targeted and include vouchers, tax credits and re-examining the State Rental Assistance Program for people with developmental disabilities.
But she pushed back on Spanberger’s support of lengthening the time it takes for landlords to evict tenants.
“You know what will happen? Landlords will not rent,” she said. “If you make it hard for a landlord to rent, the house will go away. There are ways to be kind and this is not one of them. It will take away solutions from you.”
Kate Seltzer, 757-713-7881, kate.seltzer@virginiamedia.com.