April is National Fair Housing Month which celebrates the 1968 passage of the federal Fair Housing Act. The Act prohibits housing discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and family status. Virginia enacted its own Fair Housing laws in 1972.
Virginia has a long way to go to ensure the promise of federal and state Fair Housing programs. As a long-time advocate to end homelessness, and as a supporter of affordable housing through the Cooperative Council of Ministries which serves people experiencing homelessness, I know that our most vulnerable communities, our Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ neighbors, often experience housing insecurity at higher levels. Therefore, housing policy is not just an economic issue; it’s a human rights issue and our Commonwealth must step up, and take moral leadership, to end the affordable housing crisis and homelessness.
An individual working 40-hours a week, at minimum wage, cannot afford to live in the 31st District much less raise a family. Even under the state’s new minimum wage of $11.00, which is set to take effect on January 1, 2022, a working family would not make enough to afford an apartment in Dale City where the average monthly rent is around $1,300 and will most likely increase before this law takes effect. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated homelessness across Virginia, and that’s why we must act swiftly to address our shortage of affordable housing and expand tenants’ rights across the 31st District and beyond.
Housing First Plan
We can’t allow the moral failure of denying Virginians their basic human needs to continue. Every Virginian needs a home. Here’s how we’ll fix the problem through our Housing First Plan:
- Increase the number of dedicated affordable units to combat the statewide shortage of 157,000+ units available to low-income households at 30% or lower of their average area median income.
- Provide additional funding towards the First Time Home Buyers Grant Program to support first time home buyers in the Commonwealth
- Invest in homelessness prevention and wrap around services for Virginians facing housing insecurity
- Increase funding Virginia’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF).
- Extend the state-wide eviction moratoriums and create incentives for landlords and property managers to actively apply for rent relief for their tenants.
- Enact a statewide “Tenant Bill of Rights” and universal rent control across the Commonwealth to counteract predatory increases that can be imposed by landlords.
- Increase availability and funding for permanent supportive housing solutions for Virginians experiencing homelessness through banning subsidies to corporate landlords and luxury real estate developers.
- Enact zoning reform to increase the amount of inclusionary zoning throughout the Commonwealth to incentivize developers to designate a fixed percentage of housing units as below market-rate.
- Provide greater protections for mobile home owners, including rent controls, and allowing mobile home owners the ability to purchase mobile home parks when the owner plans to sell to a third-party.
As Delegate, I will work to ensure that housing is a basic human right in Virginia. Every Virginian should have access to a safe, healthy and affordable home to live and thrive in. The Housing First Plan will be a top priority as your Delegate.
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Idris O’Connor is a Neabsco District Representative of the Prince William County Social Services Advisory Board, Chairperson of the Cooperative Council of Ministries (CCoM), President of the Prince William Young Democrats, a graduate of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, and a long-time Dale City resident running for the Democratic nomination for the 31st District in the Virginia House of Delegates