The 2026 Virginia Legislative Session is a short one, which means we’re already nearing the halfway point of this year’s General Assembly. With that in mind, this post will provide a closer look at VHA’s priorities for the proposed FY27-28 Budget.
Background: Housing in Virginia’s Budget
In Virginia’s most recently enacted budget – Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 – only 0.76% of the state’s general funds were allocated to housing assistance. This figure reflects investments in all state programs, grants, or credits related to affordable housing, including those administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS), as well as the Housing Opportunity Tax Credit.
VHA’s Budget Priorities for FY27-28: Existing Programs
Our budget priorities center on protecting and strengthening established programs with demonstrated success, which are especially vital in light of ongoing federal funding uncertainty:
102#23h and 102#2s would boost the Virginia Housing Trust Fund (VHTF), which helps the Commonwealth to expand and preserve the supply of affordable homes across the state. The VHTF also provides funding for organizations that offer rapid rehousing, supportive housing, and other services. VHTF funding helps low-income families, people experiencing homelessness, individuals with disabilities, and many other vulnerable Virginians. Want to know more? Our 2025 Virginia Housing Trust Fund Impact Report is now available!
Items 102#13h and 102#1s would increase funding for rapid rehousing through the Virginia Homeless Solutions Program. Because Virginia’s existing homelessness response system is heavily reliant on federal funding, it is very vulnerable to uncertainty, delays, budget cuts, and policy changes. Strengthening state-level coordination, planning, and investment is essential to managing this volatility and ensuring continuity of services for Virginians experiencing homelessness. Click to view our 2026 VHSP Advocacy Fact Sheet.
A handful of proposed budget amendments (102#9h, 102#14h, 102#3s, 102#18s, and 102#4s) would increase funding for the Virginia Eviction Reduction Program (VERP), which provides flexible funding to local and regional nonprofits that work with community members facing eviction. VERP was first established as a pilot program in 2020, and has been successfully working to prevent evictions around the Commonwealth since that time.
Items 301#10h and 301#9s would increase funding to the State Rental Assistance Program (SRAP), which provides rental subsidies to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Click to view our SRAP one-pager. Item 301#2s would increase funding for another DBHDS program, the Permanent Supportive Housing Program, which provides rental assistance and supportive services to individuals with serious mental illness.
Finally, Item 102#10h – a language-only amendment – would extend the Virginia Pilot Down Payment Assistance Program, which was authorized and funded by the 2024 General Assembly.
VHA’s Budget Priorities for FY27-28: New Programs
VHA is also supporting two budget requests that would establish new programs:
Item 102#19h would provide funding for the Zoning for Housing Production Pilot Program, an initiative that would enable the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to provide grants to localities that adopt favorable zoning policies for residential development. This budget request is tied to HB 1042.
Item 102#8h is linked to HB 375, the Manufactured Housing Right of First Refusal (ROFR) bill. This budget request would enable DHCD to provide grants to resident groups who wish to purchase their manufactured home community.
An Investment in Housing is an Investment in Our Communities
Affordable housing is a community asset and part of the solution to many of the challenges Virginia faces today. Research consistently shows that a lack of quality, stable, affordable housing causes and exacerbates negative outcomes in education, healthcare, food security, economic mobility, civil rights, criminal justice, child welfare, environmental protections, and more. With safe, stable, and affordable housing, students achieve more, patients are healthier, the economy is stronger, communities are safer, people can more readily avoid poverty and homelessness, and our state is more just and equal.
Collectively, our FY27-28 budget requests would add about $150M to the annual budget, which would increase the total investment in housing assistance to approximately 1.2% of the total state general funds. Let’s invest at least 1% of the budget towards housing affordability!