What's Going On

There is a national Housing Crisis being felt throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia and in Hampton Roads, and there is no one solution or easy fix. However, we do know that that first step in reaching solutions is education, to understand the issue and explore potential options.

Collaboration and caring came together on Monday, October 7, 2024 at Bethany Baptist Church, Campostella Road for a complimentary regional showing of “Beyond the Bridge” documentary and stakeholder discussion, presented by Chesapeake Thrives Housing work group, hosted by The Planning Council and Bethany Baptist Church, and supported by community stakeholders including Chesapeake Human Services, Chesapeake Planning, Hampton Roads Planning District Committee, Chesapeake Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Virginia Beach Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation, Agape Feast, Chesapeake Humane Society, and VAHCDO (Virginia Association of Housing and Community development Officials) .

BEYOND THE BRIDGE is an ambitious documentary film about solutions to homelessness and affordable housing. A Bigger Vision Films team traveled over 40,000 miles around the US to answer this question: How can this country solve homelessness in a comprehensive way? The answer surprised us with its simplicity, as two large cities proved that solving homelessness is within reach of any community. The initial documentary, “Under the Bridge” can be found and viewed on YouTube, https://youtu.be/vfGw71SWbGE?si=jmBZLv_x_PFlZ3eb.

Invitations went out to local, regional, and state elected officials and candidates, all levels of city staff, community non-profits, and the faith-based community, with nearly two hundred in attendance, including Congressman Bobby Scott and Councilman Don Carey. Following the documentary, there was a robust discussion, sharing area housing needs and gaps, current projects and initiatives in the Hampton Roads community, and next steps, actionable calls-to-action and follow-up activities for audience and community members to work toward addressing the region-wide need for affordable housing, and support for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission's Regional Housing Study.

Agape Feast and their army of volunteers assembled a visually impactful display of artwork created by clients of the Chesapeake “We Care” Resource Center for the homeless. One client shared his story of homelessness and success after receiving assistance in the form of a PSH voucher, with several others with lived experience in attendance and sharing their own, personal struggles.

In hope of reaching the widest possible audience and keeping the momentum going, attendees were provided a one-pager listing potential solutions and opportunities. They were also provided regional contacts and invited to share ideas and programs as well as potential sites well-positioned for possible affordable housing development and existing buildings suitable for adaptive re-use. Stakeholders are encouraged to continue sharing and educating within the community, encourage private landlords to participate in affordable housing programs or consider leniency in screening, to show up and be a voice in government meetings, and advocate for the homeless, affordable housing programs, and quality housing for all.

        

For VAHCDO Members Only!
This kit is designed to help dispel myths and provide clarity about rental assistance programs like Section 8. As Virginia continues to face a housing crisis, we need fresh, innovative approaches to encourage more landlords to participate.

Inside, you'll find a variety of customizable resources—traditional materials, videos, and social media content—that can be tailored to your local PHA/RHA or affiliate. Feel free to share these on your websites and social platforms, or personalize them with your organization's logo to reach your community.

Together, we can increase landlord involvement and provide housing opportunities for our most vulnerable populations. Let's use every tool available to expand affordable housing access today.

Check it out here.

On Wednesday, September 18, 2024, HUD announced that PHAs will not be required to be compliant with HOTMA Section 102 and 104 income and assets provisions by January 1, 2025, except for the Earned Income Disregard (EID) provisions. Although the implementation of the HOTMA Section 102 and 104 Final Rule remains in effect, these income and asset provisions of the final rule require access to new HOTMA-compliant HUD-50058 forms in the Housing Information Portal (HIP), the not-yet-released replacement for IMS/PIC. However, HIP will not be ready by January 1, 2025.   HUD plans to issue additional guidance about provisions in HOTMA Section 102 and 104 that are unrelated to income and assets soon. HUD is also referring agencies to the recently updated PIH HOTMA Implementation FAQs document for answers on which provisions may be implemented before migration to HIP, and for guidance related to updating Admission and Continued Occupancy Policies (ACOPs) and Administrative Plans.

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VAHCDO ran a successful legislative agenda in the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session. The legislative team was able to advance legislation that helps both housing providers and tenants. We were also able to limit or stop all together legislation that would harm the housing authority community. Below, you will find a summary of relevant bills and final results of legislative actions taken on the bills. Please remember that all 2023 bills that passed have been signed into law and went into effect July 1, 2023.
 
HB 1735 – Statement of Tenant Rights and Responsibilities Disclosure
 
This was a VAHCDO-sponsored bill that was introduced by Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg. The bill offered technical amendments that clarified requirements of the tenant rights and responsibilities disclosure. The original law required that the tenant sign an acknowledgment form that they received the disclosure. However, housing providers had instances where a tenant either failed or refused to sign the acknowledgment form. This led to judicial confusion when cases of unlawful detainer were brought before a court with some judges refusing to move forward on cases until the acknowledgment form had been signed.
 
The new requirement only requires a housing provider record when the tenant rights and responsibilities disclosure has been provided to the tenant.
 
We garnered the support of the Virginia REALTORS and VAMMHA and worked closely with the Virginia Poverty Law Center to position this bill for success. After going into conference committee, the final passage of this bill was 93(Y)-0(N) in the House of Delegates, and 40(Y)-0(N) in the Senate. The bill became law July 1, 2023.
 
HB 1771 – Expansion of the Communities of Opportunity Tax Credit (COTC)
 
HB 1771 was another VAHCDO-sponsored bill and was carried by Delegate Rodney Willett. Delegate Willett was successful in geographically expanding the COTC from the Richmond, Northern Virginia, and Virginia Beach/Hampton Roads regions to the entire state. Therefore, increasing the available amount of the tax credit was the next logical step. The existing $250,000 pool of funds were fully subscribed to in 2021, and so, we sought to increase the pool to $1 million. This request was due to the COTC now being offered statewide.
The bill was discussed thoroughly in committee and was given favorable comments from both Democrats and Republicans on the committee. Unfortunately, the increase was not in the scope of budgetary priorities for 2023, and the bill was gently laid on the table. We are currently working with DHCD and other stakeholders to posture this bill for success in the 2024 General Assembly session. We are also identifying possible patrons in both the House and Senate to carry this bill in 2024.
 
HB 1413 – Industrial Development Authorities ability to promote housing regardless of the presence of a Housing Authority
 
This bill would have allowed IDA’s to promote safe and affordable housing even with the presence of an overlapping housing authority in a given locality. This bill presented concerns on the scope of abilities by IDA’s to expand into housing provision. This bill was laid on the table and did not move forward by a vote of 9(Y)-0(N). The issue is currently being discussed by the Virginia Housing Commission.
 
HB 1614/SB 1384 – Housing Authorities and Common Household Pets
 
HB 1614 and SB 1384 sought to require housing authorities to permit tenants to own or maintain one or more common household pets. This bill would have allowed tenants to have any number of pets without any weight or size limitations regardless of the size or location of the unit. Both versions of this bill failed in the General Laws committee in the House of Delegates.
 
Note: We should expect to see some version of this bill return next year due to the over population of humane society facilities.
 
State Budget
 
As we draw closer to a state budget compromise, we will update you on any budgetary items that may affect VAHCDO and its members.
 
A skinny budget was passed before the end of the 2023 legislative session. Some budget items of note are provided below:

• Provides $115.9 million GF in FY 2023 and $125.8 million GF in FY 2024 for the combined impact of K-12 technical adjustments related to average daily membership (ADM) changes, sales tax revenue forecast changes, and program participation rate updates.
• Provides $16.8 million GF in FY 2023 ensuring that no school division receives less funding than was communicated in error last June after accounting for the increased funding from enrollment and sales tax forecast changes.
• Appropriates $405.9 million in FY 2024 to the Rainy-Day Fund from the FY 2022 revenue surplus to meet a portion of the Constitutionally required deposit.
• Additionally, transfers $498.7 million from the Revenue Reserve Fund to the Revenue Stabilization Fund to meet the remaining portion of the required deposit. This amount was deposited in FY 2022 to the Revenue Reserve Funds as a down payment for the required FY 2024 mandatory deposit.
• In total, this provides $904.6 million to the Rainy-Day Fund to fully meet the FY 2024 mandatory deposit.
• Provides $250.0 million GF in FY 2023 to the Virginia Retirement System to address unfunded liabilities. This amount was approved as a contingent appropriation by the 2022 General Assembly. This brings total lump sum deposits to $1.0 billion over the last two years.
• Provides an additional $100.0 million GF in FY 2023 to the 2022 Capital Supplement Pool for cost overruns on previously authorized capital projects. The amount was approved as a contingent appropriation by the 2022 General Assembly, bringing the total supplement pool to $450.0 million.

 
For more information, please contact:
Tyler Craddock, (804) 396-2053, tcraddock@LSGteam.com
Troy Garrett, (804) 396-2052, tgarrett@LSGteam.com

Please find a summary of the 2022 VAHCDO General Assembly bills:
 
All four bills introduced by members of the House of Delegates on behalf of VAHCDO passed in 2022 and were signed into law by the Governor. These went into effect July 1, 2022. The bills are as follows:
 
HB 214 Housing Authority Renaming Bill -
Sponsored by Delegate Roxann Robinson:
This bill allows housing authorities to rename and rebrand their respective local authorities to a name other than the previous requirement one-size-fits-all "local name" followed by "redevelopment and housing authority." This new law does require that the new name has the consent of the locality in which the authority operates.


HB 400 RAD Addition to VA Tax Assessment Guidelines - Sponsored by Delegate Rodney Willet:
This bill added the federal Rental Assistance Definition (RAD) to the Virginia tax assessment guidelines. Tax assessors must use an income-based approach that accounts for reduced rental streams when determining the taxable value of real property. 


HB 402 Communities of Opportunity Tax Credit Expansion - Sponsored by Delegate Rodney Willet:
This law expands the Communities of Opportunity (COO) tax credit for participating landlords to all census tracts in Virginia. Under this program, a participating landlord renting a qualified housing unit is eligible for a credit of 10 percent of the fair market rent for the unit, computed for that portion of the taxable year in which a landlord rented the unit to a tenant participating in a housing choice voucher program. Prior to this bill, the tax credit was only available to Richmond, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, and the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metropolitan statistical areas.


HB 1286 Notice of Intent to Dispose of Housing Project - Sponsored by Delegate Sally Hudson:
Under this law, the notice required before submitting a demolition application has changed from 12 months to 6 months. However, backstop provisions require 12 months after the required notice before the demolition can take place. The law also contains technical changes to the existing code section. It eliminates redundancies, including requiring a housing authority to notify itself of the intent to apply for disposal. In 2020, the General Assembly approved legislation to ensure that tenants get timely notice well before a redevelopment and housing authority applies to demolish public housing units and ample time before they are required to move. Since then, the experience has been that HUD has taken longer than expected to process demolition applications, creating uncertainty for potential investors working with redevelopment and housing authorities redeveloping neighborhoods across Virginia. This law helps address those issues.


In addition to the successful passage of all of the VAHCDO bills, we were also able to stop bills that would have damaged or hindered the ability of housing authorities to operate effectively and efficiently.