I applaud Abigail Spanberger on becoming the governor-elect of Virginia, especially due to one of her core campaign promises: to bring down the cost of housing. “We are going to work to lower costs of renting, buying or staying in your home,” she said in mid-November. “We are going to cut red tape and build homes families can actually afford.”

The problem is all too real. The cost of a home in Virginia rose almost 40% between 2019 and 2024, with an existing home costing about $60,000 more than the U.S. median price. Much of that is driven by sky-high housing costs in the Northern Virginia suburbs of D.C., but all across our state, from Winchester to Virginia Beach, people are being priced out of the American dream. 

No wonder homelessness in our commonwealth has been on the rise over the past five years. 

Richmond’s incoming politicians are eager to tackle the problem, and they should be. But they should also take a deep breath and make sure the policies they enshrine into law will prove effective. 

Thankfully, they have some good ideas. For example, Del. Joshua Cole wants to pass a Faith in Housing initiative, which would allow churches and other faith-based institutions to build affordable housing much more easily on their property. 

According to the Commonwealth Housing Coalition, at least 30 faith groups in Virginia are trying to build homes, but fewer than half have succeeded thanks to onerous regulations. Richmond should cut through the red tape and let religious communities play their part in solving this problem. 

Another more sweeping idea is zoning reform, which Virginia badly needs. Too often, good-faith attempts to construct more housing get mummified in zoning-related red tape at the local level. These rules often survive because older residents want things to stay the way they are. 

Take a look at Alexandria, where a comprehensive attempt at zoning reform was stalled for two years in court after locals with an eye on their property values sued. 

Such NIMBY — “Not in My Backyard” — sentiment is understandable, but it’s helped send housing prices soaring while lower-income Virginians suffer. Zoning reform is one of the first priorities Richmond should take up, incentivizing towns and cities to make housing construction easier. 

The housing shortage in Northern Virginia, where the median cost of a home stands at $664,000, also requires addressing. In our work-from-home world, this shortage has driven many residents and businesses to other parts of the state — which only drives up prices elsewhere and contributes to problems like traffic congestion. 

Our state has so many advantages, from a booming tech industry to beautiful landscapes. There’s a reason more people are moving into Virginia than leaving — but if we can’t build enough affordable homes to accommodate the newcomers, such growth could become a liability for current residents. 

There are, however, some housing reforms that we don’t need. Bans on rent pricing software used by some property companies have become fashionable (and is the core idea of HB2047), but this is like going after Hotels. com over the cost of hotels. The problem with Virginia housing isn’t that landlords have technology telling them how much their properties are worth. It’s that there are a plethora of policy reasons pushing home prices higher than they need to be. 

Another tempting idea is to make it more difficult for landlords to evict tenants, and Virginia does have some of the highest eviction rates in the country. But just look at cities like San Francisco where it’s incredibly difficult to evict and this has only sent rent prices higher. 

The solution begins and ends with more supply, and there are housing innovators Virginia can look to on this. Take Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, a pragmatist who set a goal for housing construction, slashed through his city’s red tape, and saw rent drop by 13.6% since October 2021. 

The bottom line is that Virginia must build more homes to accommodate its growing population and avoid pricing out current residents. Its new legislators and governor face big challenges ahead but also big opportunities. 

The writer is an executive committee member of the National Action Network, a nonprofit civil rights organization.