Knowing how much housing affordability was a major issue during the 2025 campaigns for both governor and the House of Delegates, I was curious to see what policy solutions would be proposed in the Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) 2026 Legislative Program.
As I looked through the Table of Contents, which includes topics ranging from “Agriculture and Rural Affairs” to “Transportation,” there appeared to be no section on “Housing.” Maybe “Housing” was under “Environment, Energy, and Land Use?” But the only reference to housing was a tangential mention of “land use”:
Local Authority
VACo supports maintaining and expanding local authority to plan and regulate land use and opposes any legislation that weakens these key local responsibilities. (p. 12)
So I went back to the “2026 Priority Position” section — nothing on housing there either. Finally, a search of their 30-page document pointed me to the “Community, Economic, and Workforce Development” section, with the following:
Affordable and Workforce Housing
VACo supports increasing federal and state funding and appropriate incentives to assist localities to create and sustain more affordable housing. (p. 5)
That’s it. The entire scope of VACo’s 2026 affordable housing priorities were, “Don’t take away any of our existing authority and give us more money.”
If this represents the view of the 95 counties across the Commonwealth, they seem to be more concerned about protecting their local land use and zoning authority than being a cooperative partner in addressing the housing affordability crisis.
The scope of the housing affordability crisis is overwhelming. According to a 2025 estimate provided by the Virginia Association of Realtors, the state is currently short approximately 187,900 housing units, which could grow to 231,900 in the next five years. For lower-income renters, the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that Virginia needs to create approximately 164,000 additional affordable rental homes just to meet current demand.
Additionally, according to the National Association of Home Builders, local government regulations including zoning restrictions, proffers, and permitting delays now account for nearly 25% of the cost of a new single-family home, adding tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of each new house.
Unfortunately, it’s in this environment that VACo offered no solutions and no leadership on how to address what has become one of the most pressing problems of this generation. Therefore, they should not be surprised by the sheer volume of housing affordability legislation that will be introduced in the upcoming session.
There was a time when teachers, police officers and firefighters lived in the communities where they served. They were our neighbors, our friends, we saw them at the grocery store, at church, and just in the community. They were role models for our children, until it became too expensive for them to live in the community where they work. In Northern Virginia, those civil servants now live in West Virginia or Maryland.
It’s with all this as background, and through extensive discussions with affordable housing advocates, that I’ll be introducing legislation to specifically create more affordable housing for our public schools employees.
My Public School Affordable Workforce Housing Pilot Program is intended to unlock underused public school property, use it for long-term workforce housing, reduce regulatory barriers and provide entry-level rental homes, townhomes and apartments for public school employees. The proposal authorizes school boards to lease school-owned, surplus land for up to 99 years and partner with nonprofits or developers who agree to build homes reserved exclusively for low- to moderate-income public school employees.
Additionally, this pilot program will allow for smaller lot sizes and the use of HUD-certified manufactured homes. This proposal caps the minimum lot size at 5,000 square feet where water and sewer already exist, aligning Virginia with national best practices that have successfully expanded housing supply. It also permits manufactured homes to be built “by right.” These are NOT mobile homes on wheels. These are modern, high-quality, “factory built” homes that cost 30 to 40 percent less per square foot but are routinely prohibited by local jurisdictions. Together, these reforms create a path to affordable housing for the very workers who teach our children, keep our schools running and create a strong sense of community.
As is evidenced by VACo’s 2026 Legislative Program, this proposal will not likely be well-received by local elected leaders. But, if it’s a choice between accommodating local elected officials who are unwilling, unable or uninterested in defining a solution, and providing more affordable housing options for young adults across the Commonwealth, I’ll choose providing more affordable housing options every day of the Session.
Del. David Reid represents Virginia’s 28th District in eastern Loudoun County and serves on the Appropriations, Transportation, and Privileges & Elections Committees. Contact his office at izabelle@delegatedavidreid.com.