By Charlotte Rene Woods
The number of Virginians who are unhoused has been on the rise, according to various data sources. A report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that in 2023, roughly 7.8 per 10,000 people in Virginia were experiencing homelessness. Recent point-in-time counts in the greater Richmond area showed an increase in unhoused citizens over the past year.
While localized data can point to particular spikes in unhoused populations, it doesn’t encompass all types of housing crises people can face, or truly capture how many people experience homelessness over time.
Laura Dobbs, a policy analyst with Housing Opportunities Made Equal, noted that someone might technically be homeless for only a few months, as opposed to someone more permanently unhoused who lives on streets, in parks or in shelters. But their temporary status is “still traumatic,” she stressed, and can still take time to financially and emotionally recover from.
“There’s a lot of people that whether they live in a hotel or they’re couch surfing or splitting their kids between different family members — they may only be homeless for three months, but it’s still an unstable three months,” Dobbs said. “Those people might not get captured in a point-in-time count, but they still need services to help them regain stability.”
It’s why her organization and others support state legislation aimed at helping to reduce or prevent evictions as well as broader efforts to increase housing stock and affordability. And of course, continued funding for organizations that work directly with those who are experiencing homelessness is a continuing need, she said.
Legislative proposals
Isabel McLain with the Virginia Housing Alliance said that her organization will press lawmakers on funding for housing efforts in their next revision of the state budget. Examples include funding that can go towards rapid rehousing efforts and operational funding for organizations that work with unhoused or vulnerable residents. It will also support efforts to assist people before they experience homelessness.
Virginia Housing Alliance will also be supportive of programs that can help prevent displacement, such as a proposal called “5,000 Families.”
Carried last year by Del. Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield) and Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield), the initiative failed to make it into the most recent state budget. If implemented, the program would provide rental relief to certain families with school-age children to prevent displacement during academic years.
Dobbs said she’ll be watching for anti-rent gouging legislation. Earlier this year, Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax) carried a bill that would allow localities to set their own provisions requiring landlords to give two months’ written notice ahead of rent increases. The bill would also set certain parameters for the increases.
Hardney-Scott said that her organization is in conversation with legislators about which specific bills may be introduced or reintroduced next year. Like McLain, a revival of Boysko’s bill is something she plans to keep watch for.
A bill that could get another shot at becoming law may be one the legislature already approved: SB 597 from Sen. Jeremy McPike (D-Prince William) would have allowed more Virginia localities to craft zoning ordinances to encourage affordable housing by using special federal tax credits. Despite House and Senate approval, Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed the bill.
While Hardney-Scott engages with legal and nonprofit organizations and lawmakers, she hopes to see more widespread discussion of the role housing plays in peoples’ lives and communities.
“We’re not having enough conversations about how (housing struggles) affect health and education or contribute to crime,” Hardney-Scott said. “Housing is the one thing that everybody needs.”
Federal housing changes may be on the horizon
Horne noted how some housing solutions may be out of any states’ hands.
“Funding is always going to be number one, especially if there’s cuts at the federal level,” she said.
Dobbs concurred.
“It’s hard to predict just how much (funding is) going to be cut from HUD,” she said. “A lot of local governments rely on funding from HUD to do things that come with services and prevention efforts, and without that federal funding, we’re really going to rely on the state even more to help support localities.”
Though President-elect Donald Trump has shied away from the “Project 2025” playbook from conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, he has been praised by the organization for utilizing their guidance in his previous term. Several of its authors are former Trump officials, including former HUD secretary Dr. Ben Carson.
In Chapter 15 of “Project 2025” Carson suggested that Congress should “consider a wholesale overhaul of HUD that contemplates devolving many HUD functions to states and localities with any remaining federal functions consolidated to other federal agencies.”
It’s unclear how long such a downsizing of the federal agency would take and if it would happen, but Virginia housing advocates stress that the state legislature continues to empower and support local governments and organizations that work with them.
(This story originally appeared in the Virginia Mercury and is being republished here with permission).
