HB 2641 (Helmer) establishes a three-member Housing Approval Board with authority to overturn local land use decisions and to automatically approve such applications that will have the effect of increasing the supply of housing in a locality, if a locality has not made a “good faith effort” to meet required housing targets over a five-year period. The process for overturning local land use decisions begins, starting January 1, 2027, with every locality mandated to increase its total housing stock by an average of 1.5 percent growth per year for five consecutive years to meet a total 7.5 percent growth target.
ACTION REQUIRED: Contact members of the House of Delegates (HOUSE OF DELEGATES 1 | HOUSE OF DELEGATES 2) today to oppose HB 2641.
The legislation also requires every locality develop a housing growth plan that must include at least three of the following nine actions to be “deemed” at making “a good faith effort” to meet their targets:
- Eliminate minimum lot size requirements or reduce such requirements by at least 25 percent.
- Increase building height limits for dwelling units by at least 25 percent.
- Simplify the permitting procedures for multifamily housing and shorten the average time to receive final approval for multifamily housing projects by at least 25 percent.
- Modify zoning ordinances to allow for high-density housing, including multifamily units such as apartments and condominiums, on land previously zoned for single-family use.
- Allow multifamily housing as a permitted use on all lots where office, retail, or commercial is the primary permitted use.
- Rezone land for higher-density housing near transit stations, places of employment, higher education facilities, and other appropriate population centers.
- Implement a plan to repurpose underutilized office parks and strip malls for multifamily housing.
- Eliminate requirements for off-street parking minimums per dwelling unit or reduce such requirements by at least 25 percent.
- Eliminate aesthetic, material, shape, bulk, size, floor area, and other massing requirements for multifamily developments.
Beginning January 31, 2032, an applicant who seeks local government approval for a residential development that will have the effect of increasing the supply of housing in a locality and has that application rejected may appeal such decision to the newly created Housing Approval Board.
HB 2641 passed in the County, Cities, and Towns Committee by a vote of 11 to 9 and was referred to House Appropriations Committee where it passed by a vote of 12 to 9 and sent to the House floor.
Call Delegates now to oppose HB 2641.
VACo Contact: Joe Lerch, AICP