Virginia News Connection

VA faith groups seek to help fix housing crisis

Zamone Perez

Virginia has a housing shortage of more than 200,000 units, and one legislative effort backed by a coalition of faith-based groups is trying to fill that gap. A bill introduced in the General Assembly would allow local governments to create a streamlined process for faith groups and other property-tax-exempt nonprofits to build affordable housing.

Sheila Herlihy Hennessee, director of faith organizing for the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, said congregations run into many different roadblocks when trying to build housing on their land.

"Congregations don't do this every day. A developer might do three or four big housing projects per year. A faith community might do one in a century. This is not their bread and butter, so there's a big learning curve with figuring out how to make that happen," she said.

She added that other issues include resistance from neighbors to increasing population density - and zoning laws across the state that are mostly geared toward single-family housing, and said working around those zoning laws can be arduous and time consuming.

A report by Housing-Forward Virginia and the Interfaith Center finds faith-based organizations own a substantial amount of land - more than 74,000 - in the Commonwealth. That's double the size of Richmond.

Herlihy Hennessee, who also co-authored the report, said the bill would provide the same, streamlined process now used to build affordable housing to other nonprofits.

"So, this very explicitly says, 'Yes, localities, you do have the authority to make the process easier for faith communities. Yes, localities, you can cut down on the NIMBY-ism. Yes, you can make this cost less money and move faster," she explained.

The legislation would also create a pilot program, where faith communities can apply for funds to cover pre-development costs, such as feasibility studies, site plans, architects and more.