A bill, supported by Loudoun’s Board of Supervisors, that would allow localities to establish rent caps in their jurisdictions has been pushed off to next year after state senators raised questions about its impact.
Affordable housing has been a recurring topic in this year’s General Assembly with much of the focus on reducing local zoning authority and requiring localities to meet certain attainable housing goals or allow reduce requirements associated with housing applications. Those efforts have been opposed by Loudoun’s Board of Supervisors and town councils who say they agree with the goal, but that reduce local zoning authority is not the proper approach.
SB 355, introduced by Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-38), would allow localities to adopt an ordinance that prohibits landlords from increasing rent costs by a certain amount.
If implementing such an ordinance, the locality would be required to establish an anti-rent gouging board to create the rules and procedures to grant landlords exemptions from the limits and establish a fair return on investment rent increase exemption.
During a Senate Local Government Committee meeting Feb. 2, Boysko said the bill would allowlocalities to protect residents from “abusive rent increases” and help address affordable housing challenges.
“Our commonwealth, I think we can all agree, is in the midst of an affordability crisis. Plagued by stagnating wages, increasing cost of food and healthcare, Virginians are cash-strapped and struggling to make ends meet,” she said.
Boysko said in 2024, 42% of the state’s renters were “rent burdened.” The bill was supported by the Virginia Association of Counties, Legal Aid Justice Center, the City of Alexandria, Virginia Coalition of Immigrant Rights, the Centerville Immigration Forum, Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Virginia Poverty Law Center, Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Freedom Virginia, New Virginia Majority and Virginia Education Association.
Some senators on the committee raised concerns that the bill would impact the state’s supply of rental units.
“This discourages actual new development,” Sen. David Sutterlein (R-4), of Roanoke, said.
The legislation was opposed by the Apartment and Office Building Association, Loudoun Chamber of Commerce, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Virginia Realtors, Northern Virginia Apartment Association, Home Builders Association of Virginia and the Housing Solutions Coalition.
A motion by Sutterlein to forward the bill to 2027 passed on an 11-4 vote.
A bill to allow rent caps was supported in the Loudoun Board of Supervisors’ legislative agenda as a priority this year. County Chair Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) during a recent Chamber of Commerce event, expressed frustration at the General Assembly’s rejection of proposals by the locality to address attainable housing, while working to reduce local zoning authority to address the same issue.
“We have put more legislation in the General Assembly than any other county, town or city in Virginia around housing and keeping people in their homes, including putting things like cap on rent and in the General Assembly, none of it is passing,” Randall said. “… So before they take away our authority, use the authority they have right now, which they have not done.”
