Now that both the House and Senate have passed their budget bills, it is up to a small group of appointed legislators to resolve the differences between each proposal and agree upon the final budget bill that will be sent to the Governor’s desk. This post will provide a breakdown of the housing-related budget items that were included in each chamber’s budget proposal, highlighting VHA’s top priorities. You can also see our priorities easily in this one-pager. Lastly, this post concludes with an opportunity for you to join us in advocating for these priority housing investments as budget negotiations continue over the next week. We appreciate your support!

The Budget Process in Virginia

The process to establish the state budget for FY27-28 actually began in 2025, when outgoing Governor Youngkin proposed an initial biennium budget. Once the legislative session started on January 14th, legislators proposed numerous amendments to the Governor’s proposal. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees were then tasked with reviewing the proposed budget, as well as all of the budget amendments from legislators. On February 22nd, these committees produced reports outlining which amendments were approved. Each chamber then voted on these reports and ultimately passed their budget proposals, HB30 and SB30. In order to resolve the differences between each proposal, a few legislators were appointed in each chamber as “conferees” to lead negotiations. Conferees were appointed on Wednesday and include the following members: Delegates Torian, Carr, McQuinn, Krizek, Austin and Bloxom, and Senators Lucas, Deeds, Locke, Pillion, and Stuart.

Looking forward, once a negotiated budget bill passes the General Assembly, the Governor is given 30 days to evaluate the bill, offer any amendments, and veto any line items. When the General Assembly reconvenes on April 22, they will respond to the Governor’s actions and determine the final budget. 

House Budget Proposal: VHA’s Priority Items

The Virginia Housing Alliance has identified three priority items among the amendments that were included in the House budget bill. 

Item 102#3h – Virginia Housing Trust Fund (VHTF): This budget item would appropriate an additional $12.5M in FY27 (but not yet in FY28) to the VHTF, as well as establish a stakeholder working group to review administration and allocations across VHTF programs. This working group will include VHTF awardees, affordable housing developers, homeless services providers, tenants, housing advocates, staff from relevant state agencies, and other stakeholders. Notably, the current language of this budget amendment does not specifically set additional funds aside for Homeless Reduction Grants (HRG). 

Item 102#8h — Increase Homeless Services Funding in Response to Federal Cuts: This budget item would appropriate an additional $6M in FY27 and FY28 to rapid rehousing. It would also provide an additional $1M per year for capacity-building and administrative costs for Continuum of Care (CoC) organizations. 

Item 102#2h – Virginia Eviction Reduction Program (VERP): This budget item would appropriate an additional $10M in FY27 to VERP, with a focus on expanding the program to “underserved regions of the state, including Northern Virginia.” 

Senate Appropriations Committee Reports: VHA’s Priority Items

The Virginia Housing Alliance has identified three priority items among the amendments that were included in the Senate budget bill.

Item 102#1s – Virginia Housing Trust Fund (VHTF): This budget item would appropriate an additional $50M in FY27 to the VHTF, which would include up to 15% for the new Revolving Loan Mixed Income Fund established by SB490. While VHA supports the House’s general fund allocation for the pilot program for mixed-income housing, we are asking the Senate to refrain from using the VHTF for this pilot due to structural and statutory misalignment.

Item 102#2s – Virginia Eviction Reduction Program (VERP): This budget item would appropriate an additional $13M in FY27 to VERP, which provides flexible funding to organizations assisting individuals and families at risk of eviction. 

Item 301#2s – State Rental Assistance Program (SRAP): This budget item would appropriate an additional $1M in FY27 and FY28 to the State Rental Assistance Program, which provides rental housing vouchers for individuals with disabilities or serious mental illness. The additional funding would help to offset the vouchers that have been lost in recent years due to an increase in the overall cost of living. 

Other Housing-Related Items in the Committee Reports

In addition to the priority budget items outlined above, the House’s proposed FY27-28 budget makes several other investments in housing. The largest new allocation is $25M in FY27 to capitalize the Virginia Housing Revolving Loan Fund (HB820 and SB490). The proposed House budget also includes $5M in FY27 for a new Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Residential Development Infrastructure Pilot Program to help localities fund infrastructure tied to housing production. Additionally, the House budget supports new staff at DHCD to manage manufactured home park registration, language strengthening floodplain standards in disaster-related grant programs, and expanded resources for manufactured home park acquisitions. The proposed House budget also provides $250,000 in FY27 to support the enforcement of state fair housing protections by Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) of Virginia. 

On the Senate side, the proposed FY27-28 budget package includes structural and data-oriented investments: $261,000 annually to support a new Housing Development Database (SB666), funding for the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, and modest administrative support for the Income-Qualified Energy Efficiency and Weatherization Task Force. The proposed Senate budget also preserves resources in the Low-Income Energy Efficiency Program Fund while directing a portion, $9.1M, to Charlottesville for the expansion of a homeless shelter and transitional housing program.

Advocate for VHA’s Housing Priorities! 

If you would like to help VHA advocate for housing in Virginia’s FY27-28 budget, you can use our simple call to action form to reach out to the budget conferees as they continue negotiations over the next week. It just takes 30 seconds to press send!