Budget Conferees Recommendation for a Virginia Housing Trust Fund
Virginia and the nation are just beginning to emerge from the most serious economic crisis in generations. At the center of this crisis has been the collapse of the housing market. Homeowners in Virginia have lost billions of dollars of equity in their homes, rental costs are rising faster than incomes, foreclosures are hollowing out neighborhoods, and homelessness is on the rise for the first time in a decade. The homebuilding industry is in depression with housing starts at record lows. The future of the mortgage industry is uncertain, leaving young families with fewer housing options than their parents. Against this backdrop, we have just seen the deepest cuts to federal housing programs in 30 years. Economists, business leaders and policy makers all agree that re-starting the housing market is essential to our economic recovery.
Governor McDonnell has recognized the seriousness of this situation and has put several housing policy initiatives in place since taking office. A “State Housing Policy Framework” was released last fall that begins to connect a range of state policies to housing, including regulatory reform, transportation and finance, a Housing Trust Fund is identified as an important implementation strategy. A Homelessness Task Force has produced a plan and the Governor has adopted a goal to reduce homelessness by 15% during his term. A Foreclosure Task Force made up of gubernatorial appointees also continues to work in 2011 as well as efforts to look at prisoner re-entry strategies, which also include consideration of housing issues.
When we began to advocate for a Housing Trust Fund ten years ago, the greatest concern was that housing prices were spiraling beyond the reach of average Virginians. Today, we face urgent housing needs to help Virginians to save their homes, to help neighborhoods that have been devastated by foreclosures and to help spark housing production that is one of our important economic engines.
The good news is that a Virginia Housing Trust Fund is a real solution to this problem. The Virginia Housing Trust Fund would offer broad-reaching and flexible solutions to the varied housing challenges that Virginians are now facing. In addition to promoting home ownership, the Trust Fund would also support the development of affordable rental options, housing designed to meet the needs of seniors and persons with disabilities, as well as housing solutions to reduce homelessness. The Trust Fund would stimulate transit-oriented housing to reduce traffic congestion and provide low-interest loans, matching funds for local programs and incentives for developers to create reasonably priced housing and mixed-income communities. Many Virginians would benefit, including middle class families, first-time homebuyers, struggling single parents, seniors, people with disabilities and those at risk of becoming homeless.
Housing remains at the center of our national economic malaise. Forty states, including Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia, have already established housing trust funds to address housing challenges in their communities and begin the process of rebuilding our housing market. Let’s help make Virginia the 41st state to take make this investment in jobs, communities and families.