Virginia governor’s amendments keep Faith in Housing Act in limbo

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger left in limbo legislation that would let faith-based organizations build affordable housing on their land without rezoning.

Instead of vetoing or signing the Faith in Housing Act, Spanberger recommended changes. The recommendations keep the bill’s core intact but make targeted operational tweaks.

The governor, who has only been in office since January, made improved housing affordability a major campaign theme. Her first legislative push had mixed results. Local governments defeated a proposal to allow multifamily housing by right in many commercially zoned areas.

Since the faith-based bill passed more than a week ago, local governments have pressured the governor to veto it. At the same time, she has heard from pro-housing and faith-based organizations urging her to make it law. The measure would put Virginia among the few states with a “Yes in God’s Backyard” policy that permits faith-based housing development by right.

“The governor’s amendments make some narrow adjustments, and like most legislation, there’s still room for improvement,” Jessica Sarriot, a co-lead organizer for Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE), told HousingWire‘s The Builder’s Daily. “But this creates a strong foundation and we’re ready to move forward.”

Virginia legislators will consider the recommendations when they reconvene April 22. Even if they reject them, Spanberger can still sign the original bill.

Tweaks to the Faith in Housing Act

Spanberger proposed easing the bill’s infrastructure test. She would replace the 500-foot water and sewer rule with a broader service-or-planned-service standard. She also reinforced safeguards by clarifying that projects must follow environmental, historic, siting and archaeological laws and regulations that apply to similar developments.

On building form, Spanberger narrowed height flexibility. She excluded buildings with special-exception height from the tallest-building comparison baseline. Her recommendations would also give historic districts more control by letting existing historic-district regulations set maximum building heights in these areas.

She broadened pro-housing tools for local planners by allowing higher minimum housing densities in revitalization, transit, and small-area or sector-plan districts.

To address process concerns, she proposed streamlining approvals. Qualifying projects would be deemed “substantially in accord” with local comprehensive plans, limiting plan-consistency challenges.

She also reinforced the bill’s implementation focus by urging tax-exempt religious and nonprofit landowners to consult state housing resources when planning affordable housing on their properties.