By Anna Bryson
Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger announced a plan on Friday to lower housing costs in Virginia by eliminating arduous regulatory requirements that drive up production costs and incentivizing new housing construction for first-time homeowners and middle-class families.
Spanberger announced her plan at Parkside Townes, a housing development under construction in eastern Henrico County that uses a land trust model to lower costs by separating ownership of the home from the land beneath it.
“High housing costs and a lack of attainable housing, they’re not abstract challenges,” Spanberger said. “They’re real challenges, and for some they are crises.”
The former congresswoman’s plan includes ensuring all localities can create affordable housing programs and incentivizing the use of localities’ bonding authority for building housing options that meet demand in their communities.
“Here in Henrico, they are providing a leading example of what is possible when localities streamline reviews and permit processes, and we’ve seen the county turn around an approval in a matter of days for good affordable housing development and redevelopment,” Spanberger said.
“There are ways Virginia, at the state and local level, can make that process far more efficient, from planning and permitting, all the way to the point when a family gets their keys in their hand, and my administration will work to make that happen.”
Parkside Townes, where Spanberger announced her plan on Friday, is one of the first Affordable Housing Trust Fund projects in Henrico County. Local officials announced in 2024 that they would use tax revenues from data centers to help build between 100-150 affordable, new construction homes each year.
The 123-unit townhouse development will include 25 affordable units. It uses the “land trust model,” in which Maggie Walker Community Land Trust uses county money to purchase plots of land. Buyers then purchase equity in the home built over top, without factoring in the cost of the land.
The market price for a house in Parkside Townes is around $315,000. The land trust model brings that price down to about $205,000 for affordable units.
Other tenets of Spanberger’s plan include increasing the portion of the governor’s allocation of the state private activity bond that is dedicated to housing, and increasing funding for the Virginia Housing Trust Fund to boost the supply of affordable housing.
Spanberger also said she would reestablish an Interagency Council on Homelessness and Housing to drive down the rate of homelessness and evictions in Virginia and invest in other programs that aim to prevent homelessness.
Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the GOP nominee for governor, previously served as the director of a women’s homeless shelter.
“Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears doesn’t just talk about housing, she’s lived the mission,” said Earle-Sears’ press secretary Peyton Vogel.
“From directing a homeless shelter to launching Virginia’s Workforce Housing Investment Program, she’s combined compassion with reform to get results.
“She’s cut costly red tape for builders and families while keeping government accountable to the people it serves. That’s the kind of principled, results-driven leadership Virginians deserve.”