A pair of bills included in Governor Abigail Spanberger’s "Affordability Agenda" got out of Virginia’s House of Delegates Monday.
The first bill isn’t exactly sexy, it allows localities to buy affordable housing properties that were built with public funds, but Governor Abigail Spanberger said it was an affordability priority.
“The bill would allow localities to establish a right of first refusal if, and only if, they can match a third-party offer,” said the bill’s patron Democratic Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker from Alexandria, explaining it on the House floor Friday. “The owner receives the same purchase price and the housing remains affordable.”
Bennett-Parker argues the affordable housing requirement is about to expire on about 17,000 units and their rents could spike if and when those properties get sold to the highest bidder.
“We have an affordable housing crisis with these units, and we can’t afford to lose them,” Bennett-Parker added.
The bill passed last year but Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed it saying it “sets a dangerous precedent for government intervention in property sales.”
And critics, including Bismah Ahmed on behalf of the Virginia Apartment and Office Building Association, reiterated the criticism they lobbied last year, that it will discourage investment.
“Buyers and lenders avoid markets with unpredictable risks and so that ultimately does drive up costs for renters,” Ahmed told a House committee in 2025.
That sentiment appears to have influenced the Republican minority in the House, but not enough to stop the effort. It sailed off the House floor 65-34.
A second housing effort, again backed by Spanberger, also passed the House Monday.
“Yes, Mister Speaker, maybe the fifth time is the charm,” Newport News Democratic Delegate Cia Price said Friday, defending her bill that aims to extend the amount of time folks have to pay rent late.
The bill extends the timeline from 5 to 14 days, enough for a second paycheck to clear. Price has defended the effort since it was passed in an emergency posture during covid:
“It’s important during a health crisis, it's also important on a regular Tuesday," Price told Radio IQ ahead of the chamber vote.
But landlords say it’s redundant and state law already allows for those late on rent to make their full payment up to the point a sheriff tapes an evicted sign on their door.
Silas Pace is with Carydale Apartments in Annandale, he called the existing late payment process the “right to redeem.”
“We, in a 12-month lease, we've had one tenant use the right to redeem 11 times and there’s an unlimited amount [of times it can be used],” Pace told Radio IQ in an interview ahead of this year’s session. “It seems they just want to punish one side of the equation.”
This was the fifth time for the bill as Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed the effort for the reasons Pace mentioned.
Despite those concerns, the effort passed the House Monday with some bipartisan support.
In a written statement, Spanberger praised the House's passage of the two efforts but said there's plenty more work to do.
Both bills now head to the Senate later this month.
