Policy Highlight – Increasing Housing Production

From left to right: Patrick McCloud, Virginia Apartment Management
Association , Garrett Jackson, APAH, Brian Goggin, APAH,
and Senator Kaine’s Legislative Assistant, Paul Lapointe.

On September 29th, APAH Director of Resource Development and Communications, Garrett Jackson, and real estate Associate Project Manager Brian Goggin visited Senator Tim Kaine’s office to discuss the need to boost housing production.

Garrett and Brian joined Up for Growth CEO Mike Kingsella and the CEO of the Virginia Apartment Management Association, Patrick McCloud.

Among the legislation being proposed in Congress, Build More Housing Near Transit Act (H.R. 2483), proposes to change the evaluation criteria of Federal Transit Administration grant programs to encourage multi-family housing construction around transit lines. Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) Act (S. 1614), proposes Community Development Block Grant recipients to submit to the Department of Housing and Urban Development information about exclusionary land-use policies that restrict multifamily housing development. Senator Kaine has also introduced Housing Supply and Affordability Act (S. 902), which would provide a new grant program to help localities implement comprehensive housing policy plans to increase housing supply and affordability.

During the discussion, Garrett and Brian described APAH’s development experience in Northern Virginia, where zoning for multifamily housing is critical for building more affordable housing.