Advocates say the root cause of Virginia’s housing problem is there simply aren’t enough homes.
At a meeting with local housing groups on Sept. 22, Del. Shelly Simonds (D-Newport News) said she wants to end parking minimums in Virginia to enable more development.
Local governments currently can require developers to provide a certain amount of parking spaces per occupant — measures housing advocates say stand in the way of building badly-needed homes.
Representatives from organizations Yes In My Backyard and Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia applauded the announcement.
“Oftentimes, these excessive parking requirements are used as a way to block any development, even if it is benefiting the community as a whole,” HOME’s director of policy Laura Dobbs said.
Parking minimums often are arbitrary and mean builders have to scale back housing projects, said YIMBY director Gillian Pressman. For example, local parking minimums could require up to three parking spaces per unit. For a 30-unit building, that would mean 90 parking spaces — a big ask in places limited on space, she said.
“Now instead of a building that could house 30 young families or 30 young professionals, it now houses ten and all the rest is just car,” Pressman said. “And this is particularly problematic in areas where there is transit nearby or there is a bus station.”
Simonds says a similar bill passed with bipartisan support in North Carolina. She expects the bills to have bipartisan appeal in Virginia, too. Opposition will likely come from the local level, she said.
“What it's going to come down to is state control versus local control,” Simonds said. “And I suspect we may have some municipalities around the state who oppose the bill.”
NPR reported last year cities around the country are tossing parking requirements to make room for more affordable housing. Newport News voted to do away with parking minimums in October 2024, the first locality in Hampton Roads to do so.
Simonds says Virginians can expect multiple “pro-housing” bills from Democrats next year.
“There probably will be other bills involving faith and housing, Yes In God's Backyard, (and) housing near jobs,” Simonds said, referencing efforts to allow faith-based groups to develop housing on church-owned land. “I'm also looking at a bill to crack down on rent-to-own scams that are hurting tenants right now. There's just a lot to do in this space.”
Dobbs, the policy director from HOME, said other policy solutions could include making it easier to turn vacant buildings and strip malls into housing and allowing property owners to build accessory dwelling units.
“We need to build housing like the emergency that it is,” Dobbs said, noting getting rid of parking minimums is a step in the right direction.
Everyone around the table at Monday’s event recounted some version of the same stories about housing issues: elderly homeowners who can’t downsize, young families who can’t buy their first home and people who are stuck with long commutes because they can’t afford homes or rent in the Hampton Roads area.
The solution is to build more homes, especially where people work, Pressman said, noting this won’t be possible without state-level change.
