On February 1^st, Policy and Project Manager, Brian Goggin, advocated for affordable housing investments at the state level as part of the Virginia Housing Alliance’s (VHA) Housing Advocacy Day. VHA is an association of nonprofit affordable housing organizations from across the Commonwealth.

The Virginia General Assembly only meets once at the beginning of every year for its annual session. As a result, this is a key time to advocate for increased state support for affordable housing. As part of the day of advocacy, Brian joined Jennifer Endo, Vice President of Community Relations at AHC and Jill Norcross, Executive Director of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA), to meet with state representatives from Northern Virginia.

The trio met with Senator Barbara Favola, Senator Scott Surovell, Delegate Kenneth Plum, and staff from Delegate Holly Seibold’s office, to talk about a key set of affordable housing proposals up for debate during this year’s General Assembly. These included a Housing Stability Fund to provide rent assistance to those most in need, increased investments for the Virginia Housing Trust Fund, the creation of a statewide Housing Needs Assessment (HB 2046/SB 839), and legislation to permit accessory dwelling units statewide (HB 2100).

APAH thanks VHA for all their hard work and dedication to fighting for affordable housing at the state level, which is critical to securing a more prosperous future not just for Northern Virginia, but for all Virginians.