How Regional Commissions Can Anchor Housing Systems Without Creating New Bureaucracy

Across Virginia, many rural and small-metro regions struggle to coordinate housing without a formal housing authority or land trust. But what if we already have the structure we need, and simply need to use it differently?

During this week’s Housing Development Training Institute session, two examples made that point clear:

Henrico County’s Economic Development Authority invested 11 million dollars in loans and incentives to make the Glenwood Farms Redevelopment possible. They treated affordable housing as economic development infrastructure, which made the project financially viable and faster to deliver.

Chesterfield County took another path by turning a former elementary school site into 10 permanently affordable homes through a partnership with the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust.

Two different tools, one shared principle: both regions already had a coordinating table where housing, planning, and economic development worked together.

That same foundation exists here in the Northern Shenandoah Valley through the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC). Read more…