Virginia Beach forum spotlights land limits, transit gaps and a state study on rent‑increase limits

Beatrice Zamberman, chair of the forums committee for the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission, opened a community forum on affordable housing that brought together legal advocates, a city housing official, a regional transit planner and a private developer to discuss barriers and near‑term options for stabilizing housing costs.

The panel framed the problem as a mix of constrained land supply, rising construction and financing costs, and zoning and transportation patterns that make housing less accessible. “In Virginia Beach, we have about 62,000 households; a third of our households are cost‑burdened,” said Sharon Shoff, housing development manager for the city’s Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation, citing the city’s housing study and urging broader public engagement in planning and rezoning discussions.

Why it matters: panelists said building enough new housing will take years and that immediate relief may require local policy tools and incentives. Gustavo Espinosa, a policy advocate with the Legal Aid Justice Center, described a multi‑organization campaign, Allies for Housing Action, and a proposal first introduced in 2022 that would allow cities and counties to set reasonable limits on rent increases; he said the measure was sent to the Virginia Housing Commission for study this year.

Panel takeaways and proposals: developers, the city and advocates outlined several complementary approaches. Victor Lait, chief executive of Duelle, urged public–private partnerships and tax or permitting incentives to make projects financially feasible. “More housing is gonna help us,” he said, arguing that incentivizing development and easing entitlement timelines would attract investment.

Transportation as part of the solution: Chandler Motley of Hampton Roads Transit said land‑use patterns and funding constraints limit where buses can run and how frequently. Motley noted that most regional routes run hourly and that a limited number of corridors support 15‑minute service. “If we can provide good service to everybody, then it also is going to include the people that may or may not consider themselves living in affordable housing,” Motley said.

Legal and organizing work: Melissa Bonfiglio of the Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia and Espinosa both described frontline work — eviction prevention, tenant education and resident organizing — to keep people housed while longer‑term supply solutions proceed. Bonfiglio emphasized that legal aid eligibility is tied to income limits and that unstable housing increases costs for other public systems, from child welfare to health care.

Public engagement and local programs: the city has launched an attainable workforce housing performance grant that reduces the initial tax burden for qualifying new construction, Sharon Shoff said, modeling the incentive on a program used in Richmond. Panelists urged residents to attend planning commission and council meetings, sign up for the city housing newsletter at virginiabeach.gov/housingmatters and to connect with organizers — Espinosa said he and allies will be available after the forum.

Next steps: the panel recommended public participation in zoning and planning, encouraged local officials to consider incentives and transit partnerships, and pointed attendees to community resources and the Allies for Housing Action coalition for updates. The forum concluded with a resource fair and invitations for civic engagement.

The Human Rights Commission did not hold a vote or adopt any formal measure at the event.