VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Gov. Glenn Youngkin is ramping up his efforts to try and solve Virginia’s housing crisis by tying future economic development grants to housing plans.
In an executive order issued Thursday, Youngkin, (R-Va.) directed that the Virginia Economic Development Partnership require housing plans be submitted when a community looks to be awarded funds for economic development.
No longer can the state afford to bring in companies ready to hire people for jobs, but have nowhere for those people to live, according to Youngkin.
It’s estimated Virginia currently has 3.6 million housing units across the state, but there is demand for 4.1 million.
“We are growing like crazy with jobs announcements, it seems almost every day,” Youngkin said. “We also need to pair with it housing initiatives.”
Youngkin made the announcement at the 2024 Governor’s Housing Conference at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. The multi-day event brings together hundreds to discuss issues in the state surrounding housing.
While interest rates and the cost of building materials have helped to make housing unaffordable, the most recent State of the Region report for Hampton Roads revealed “we are not building single and multifamily housing at a sufficient pace to meet demand.”
Between 2000 and the beginning of Great Recession in 2008, Virginia developed roughly 60,000 units a year according to Youngkin. Today it’s 30,000.
“We need more houses we need to build,” Youngkin said.
While the permitting phase rests mainly in the hands of local governments, Youngkin’s putting up money to help sway their actions.
“We’re bringing together agencies and departments that can facilitate and foster more housing development, particularly workforce housing,” Youngkin said. “And so our workforce housing investment program today, which will unleash $75 million of loans and grants to support $750 million of workforce housing development, will get us started and bring a much needed estimated 5,000 housing units to the workforce that’s taking all these great jobs.”
Under the terms of the Workforce Housing Investment Program, Virginia Housing, which is a quasi-government agency of Virginia, will provide loans, loan subsidies, and grants up to $3 million to local governments and nonprofits to develop housing for workers earning 80-120% of area median income, or up to 150% in rural areas according to a release from the governors office.
“To be eligible for investment, a locality must be within a 30-minute drive of a business adding new jobs: 100 for a non-distressed locality, 50 for a distressed locality, and 25 for a double-distressed locality,” the release states.
On the economic development side, local governments that apply for funds with Virginia Business Ready Sites Program, like Suffolk did with its Port 460 project or Norfolk did with Fairwinds Landing, would moving forward include housing plans to match the job potential for each site.
“It doesn’t mean that you have to go execute it,” Youngkin said. “You just have to have a plan and then we’ll work on it together.”
Youngkin has been outspoken on the need to push back on what is often referred to as NIMBY (not in my backyard), an acronym used to describe neighbors who are opposed to development.
“There’s a lot of people who are concerned about development,” Youngkin said. “It needs to be thoughtful. But if we’re going to grow and have more jobs and want companies to come, we have to recognize that what comes with that is a need to provide housing opportunities for people across Virginia. The private sector can do this. And the reality is we’ve got to enable it. And that is local government standing up and saying we’re going to allow development in order to meet the needs. It needs to be thoughtful so communities can come together and have open forums and town halls and discussions and frame a plan. But if you don’t want to grow, then you don’t want housing.”