Spanberger rolls out housing affordability plan

The Democratic nominee for governor wants Virginia to become the national leader in addressing the housing affordability crisis by increasing the housing supply.

SANDSTON – Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger on Friday rolled out her policies on how to make housing more affordable in Virginia. 

Spanberger emphasized the need to make it easier to increase the housing supply after a years-in-the-making housing affordability crisis has made housing a top issue for many Virginians. 

“The goal is to actually increase supply,” Spanberger told reporters at a campaign event in Sandston. “We know that over the past many, many years the United States as a whole has not kept up with housing supply, and it has impacted affordability across the nation and that’s the same story here in Virginia.” 

Spanberger said she wanted to make Virginia a national leader on housing affordability. She does not support a one-size-fits-all solution and wants to give localities more flexibility to develop their housing supplies. Her platform calls for streamlining review and permitting processes and getting rid of policies that drive up the cost of housing without impacting quality or safety. 

“We should make a clear path towards cutting through red tape and decreasing hurdles and in fact approval times,” Spanberger said. 

Spanberger’s housing affordability platform also includes providing incentives for new construction that spurs development of starter homes and smaller homes on smaller lots that are more affordable. Spanberger is also calling for the re-establishment of an interagency council on homelessness and housing to reduce homelessness and evictions in Virginia. 

Whitney Brown, a Richmond resident, shared her story of trying to buy a home in 2018 on an annual income of $41,000. 

“Housing is definitely a top issue,” Brown said. “It impacts our health. It impacts our education. It impacts future generations.”

Brown said the purchase of her home would not have been possible without the help of the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust, a local nonprofit. Brown, who now sits on the board of the nonprofit, said she knows of cases where a buyer is making 110% of the area-median income but still struggling to find a home purchase that would keep their housing costs around 30% of their income. 

Affordable housing is generally understood as housing that doesn’t cost greater than one third of the renter or homeowner’s income and is defined that way in Virginia code. 

“For many people like me, home ownership really seems unattainable and completely out of reach,” Brown said.

Spanberger’s roll-out of a housing affordability platform builds on the health care affordability policies she announced in May. 

The two events – with their policy one-pagers, press availability, and remarks from community members – contrast with the campaigning of her opponent, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears. 

Sears has offered few if any policy proposals and has limited her availability to the press to a few controlled events.