Several priorities in Alexandria City Council’s latest state legislative package are making progress in the General Assembly.
The City of Alexandria is supporting proposals that aim to make it easier for localities to expand housing and increase its affordability. The latest General Assembly Legislative Package outlines state bills it would support, citing increasing housing costs for city residents and essential workers being priced out of the city.
One city-supported proposal is State Sen. Jeremy McPike (D-29)’s Senate Bill 388, which would remove the rezoning requirement for housing development on property owned by faith-based institutions. The legislation requires a minimum 60% of the housing to be affordable housing for at least 30 years.
Yesterday (Monday), the Virginia Senate Committee on Local Government recommended the bill to the full Senate.
The city already has an example of church-based affordable housing development with The Waypoint on Fairlington Presbyterian Church’s property, in partnership with affordable housing developer Wesley Housing.
Wendy Ginsberg, the City of Alexandria’s legislative director, spoke in support of another advanced bill — State Sen. Russet Perry’s S.B. 328 to eliminate a cap on grants to local government employees for home purchases.
“It advances the city’s legislative priority of expanding housing affordability so the people who make Alexandria work can afford to live in the community they serve,” Ginsberg said.
Other housing-related bills advanced from the Senate Committee on Local Government would:
- Allow by-right multifamily development in most commercial or business districts (S.B. 454)
- Allow all localities to adopt an affordable housing dwelling unit program (S.B. 74)
- Require localities to establish transit-oriented districts allowing up to 10 dwelling units by right on any lot (S.B. 717)
- Permit manufactured housing in agricultural zones (S.B. 346)
Ginsberg testified in support of a bill to eliminate minimum parking requirements, S.B. 354, by State Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D-37), but it did not pass the committee on Monday.
The city’s legislative agenda also supports anti-price gouging protections, but State Sen. Jennifer Boysko’s (D-38) S.B. 355 to allow localities to adopt anti-rent gouging ordinances was delayed to the 2027 General Assembly session.
Laura Dobbs, the policy director at Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, told ALXnow the state is facing a significant housing shortage that is driving rents up and making it harder to achieve homeownership.
A tight housing supply also makes housing discrimination more frequent and harder to address, Dobbs said.
“A lot of people have had to move away from Northern Virginia, away from being near their jobs and school because they can’t afford to run there, and moving further down [Interstate] 95 into the Richmond area,” Dobbs said.
The impact of residents leaving the region is “getting felt in other parts of the state,” Dobbs added, “making it an issue that everyone across the state is starting to feel that squeeze.”
Based on the Senate committee’s mixed actions on the housing bills, Dobbs believes the General Assembly isn’t ready to take on many changes at once.
While she anticipates some housing reforms like the church-based affordable housing bill could pass, she says more actions are needed to make housing prices affordable for lower-income residents.
“For moderate-income people, adding more supply would really help them and drive prices at the middle,” Dobbs said. “But for people who are at the lowest income, we still need things like anti-rent gouging, because that trickle-down effect doesn’t typically go all the way down to those at the lowest income. You still need additional subsidies and other programs to ensure that we get dedicated affordable units built as well.”
