Can Virginia Legislate Away The NIMBYs?

[M II A II R II K]

Can Virginia Legislate Away The NIMBYs?


May 26, 2021

By Wyatt Gordon

Read More: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021...ay-the-nimbys/

In less than six weeks, Virginia will become just the third state in the nation to officially go on the books as saying no to NIMBYs. Pro-housing advocates increasingly peg the “Not In My Backyard” naysayers as the main culprit behind America’s historic low of new housing construction over the past decade, since one of their top concerns remains keeping low-income families out of affluent neighborhoods. Thanks to HB 2046 from Del. Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond, beginning on July 1 localities across Virginia will no longer be allowed to deny building permits to projects “because the housing development contains or is expected to contain affordable housing units occupied or intended for occupancy by families or individuals with incomes at or below 80 percent of the median income of the area.”

- “We‘re not sure if those people are right for our community,” said Bourne. “Do we really want this type of development for those folks in our town?” Those are just a couple of the questions Bourne says he often hears about when new affordable housing goes before Virginia localities for permit approvals. They are also the kinds of questions about new development that he hopes his anti-NIMBY bill will put an end to. — “We’re trying to limit the ability of discrimination to impede the creation of more affordable housing for folks,” Bourne said. “Unfortunately, local governments have used the type of tenant and end-use of housing as a reason to deny or defeat projects, so what we wanted to do is ensure protections for different classes of people when local governments are determining whether new development is a good fit for their community.” — In theory, the Fair Housing Act has protected Americans against race-based discrimination in the housing market since its passage in 1968. In practice, those looking to keep low-income Americans out of their neighborhoods have found creative and nuanced tools such as single-family zoning and minimum lot sizes to get the job done. One effective method to keep undesirables out has been to deny building permits for developments intended to serve low-income households or construction which relies upon federal tax credits to subsidize it.

- From the Virginia Values Act to protections for victims of domestic abuse, in recent years the commonwealth’s Democratic majority has dramatically expanded the list of groups included under Virginia’s Fair Housing Law. With such protections now in place, the fight for affordable housing has shifted to focus on the lack of supply in the market. — “This could be really groundbreaking, but the fear of change NIMBYism is based on is strong and NIMBYs will find any way to run out the clock, delay or create opposition to new housing,” said Joh Gehlbach, government affairs manager for the Richmond Association of Realtors. — “This will certainly help to eliminate some of the more formalized opposition to housing creation for a specific income level and for rental properties versus sale properties, but this is another tool in the tool box. It’s not a silver bullet.” — More than anything this anti-NIMBY bill sets the tone that local governments can’t deny housing based on the income of the prospective residents. The bill sends the message to local governments that we are in dire need of affordable housing, and it is no longer acceptable to refuse low-income housing. Local governments can no longer say based on the style, design or neighborhood character of the proposal that it doesn’t fit with community standards. — Ultimately, the impact of the bill may be decided by the courts. Many of the precedents housing non-discrimination law is based on have resulted from plaintiffs suing after localities.

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[mhays]

The only "silver bullet" is by-right land use permitting. Anything that meets code should be allowed, if it follows the typical rules and dots the typical i's.

That leaves code variances as another sticking point on many projects. Jurisdictions would keep playing games with those. But projects could avoid variances and get through.

And of course building permits are another matter. Those are a morass of interpretations by designers and plan reviewers. But that's hopefully not political unless there's a serious corruption problem.

Even better would be jurisdictions having some sense of the greater good, but maybe that's too much to ask.

My city, btw, actually streamlines processes for affordable housing, while it's notably slow for everything else.

[kingkirbythe....]

I hope it passes.