Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of public policy issues and headlines from around the Northern Virginia Region, the Commonwealth, and Capitol Hill.
by Danielle Finley, Associate Director of Political Engagement
Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of Public Policy Issues and Headlines. In this Issue: 1. Republicans Take Control of the House, Paving the Way for Trump’s Plans on Housing 2. Affordable housing on religious parcels? Local leaders like it, but with caveats 3. Google, Virginia policy makers discuss growing data center demand 4. Mortgage Rates Drop a Week After Fed Rate Cut 5. Youngkin announces plan to help build housing for Virginia’s growing workforce.
By KEITH GRIFFITH, Realtor.com
Republicans are now officially projected to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives, clearing the path for President-elect Donald Trump to pursue his full policy agenda, including his proposals affecting housing. On Wednesday night, the Associated Press issued its projection for the final House race needed to achieve a Republican majority of 218 seats, declaring incumbent GOP Rep. Juan Ciscomani the winner in Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District. There are still nine House races that remain too close to call, which will determine the ultimate margin of the GOP’s majority in the chamber.
By SCOTT MCCAFFREY, ARLnow
The concept of granting religious organizations more flexibility to create affordable housing on their properties is a good one, Falls Church officials say. But city leaders remain wary of pending legislation in Richmond that could handcuff local-government zoning powers in order to obtain that outcome.
By CHARLIE PAULLIN, Virginia Mercury
Leading tech firm Google, which has invested over $4 billion in Virginia and owns three data center campuses in the northern region of the state, co-hosted a private meeting in Richmond Tuesday alongside the state’s energy department to talk about how electric grid investments can meet data centers’ rising energy needs. Called the Virginia Grid Innovation Summit, Google and Virginia Energy led the summit with speeches from Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Virginia Energy Director Glenn Davis, Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax, and a representative of Dominion Energy, with several energy-related companies and nonprofits in attendance.
During the Federal Reserve’s two-year rate hiking campaign to lower inflation, prospective homebuyers watched mortgage rates hit record highs. When the central bank finally began cutting interest rates this fall, many were eager for relief. Yet mortgage rates went in the opposite direction, surging over the past two months due to strong economic data and political uncertainty around the elections.
Virginia will help fund housing construction alongside major business development to help address growing housing costs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday. Youngkin said the state’s successfully attracting businesses with state funding to help localities prepare sites for development — but that’s only part of the equation. “Imagine announcing 500 new jobs in a community that doesn’t have the housing to provide 500 new great job-seekers,” the governor told a crowd at the Governor’s Housing Conference in Virginia Beach.