Fairfax County leaders appear ready to battle any efforts in the 2026 General Assembly session to strip powers of local government to regulate creation of new housing.
“We want affordable housing,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said, but the county’s lobbying efforts in Richmond would be focused on “making sure the General Assembly doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all” approach that erases local decision-making powers.
The concern among local government leaders across the commonwealth on the issue has been percolating for several years, as affordable housing advocates have pressed state legislators to remove regulatory impediments to creating new housing stock.
In 2024, for instance, state Sen. Saddam Salim, proposed requiring that localities allow accessory living units by right, meaning they would only go through an administrative review without public hearings. Fairfax County officials opposed the legislation, and the House of Delegates ultimately put it on hold for further study.
So far, local governments and organizations that represent them in Richmond have managed to retain most — if not all — their powers. But boosters of concepts like by-right affordable housing development on properties owned by religious organizations promise to be back during the 2026 legislative session.
The discussion came Tuesday (Oct. 7), as the Board of Supervisors’ Legislative Committee took a first look at staff proposals for the county’s 2026 General Assembly priorities.
Much of the language in the package is carried over from the previous year, but this time, the staff proposal recommends additional planks addressing local zoning authority.
“Local land use authority must remain central to any strategy, allowing localities to craft innovative solutions that are appropriate for their communities,” the draft language reads. “Meeting these housing objectives requires the flexibility and agility of local governments.”
“Communities are empowered to act through their locally elected governments to ensure orderly and balanced growth and development,” the document says.
McKay said the wording in the draft document “will probably evolve” before mid-November, when it’ll be formally published for community review. After public hearings slated for Nov. 18 and Dec. 2, supervisors are expected to adopt their 2026 package on Dec. 9.
A week later, they will meet with the county’s legislative delegation to discuss priorities. The 60-day General Assembly session opens on Jan. 14, though lawmakers can start pre-filing bills in mid-November.
Virginia’s status as a “Dillon Rule” state means local governments only have the powers expressly granted to them by the state legislature.
One thing that ordinarily unites leaders of the commonwealth’s 133 cities and counties, regardless of location or political views, is a desire to retain as much local autonomy as they can on a host of issues.
Leaders in adjacent Arlington are also likely to oppose dilution of land-use autonomy during the 2026 session, based on past policy positions.
In both 2024 and 2025, Arlington County Board members called on the legislature to “protect the authority of local governments to plan, zone and enforce land-use regulations, without restricting local zoning authority or the zoning process.”
Arlington’s draft 2026 policy package will be released in coming weeks, with adoption likely in December.
At the Oct. 7 meeting, McKay and Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik mused that the effort to dilute local regulatory powers was aimed to more rural, conservative areas of the commonwealth, which might not be as amenable to affordable-housing issues as Northern Virginia’s localities have been.
Palchik said state leaders should trust Fairfax’s commitment to increasing housing stock.
“Not enough housing has been built — all housing, not just affordable housing,” she said.
That, in turn, creates “ripple-down effects in so many areas,” Palchick said.
Fairfax officials in September directed County Executive Bryan Hill to report back early next year with ways to cut red tape within the local government, part of an effort to speed the pipeline of new housing-stock creation.
Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez, now chair of the legislative committee after former Braddock District supervisor James Walkinshaw was elected to Congress, applauded staff’s effort to scale down the draft package to a manageable 17 pages with explanatory graphics throughout.
The result “makes it far more digestible” for supervisors, the public and its intended audience: the county’s General Assembly delegation.
Fairfax’s adopted package will represent “where we will and won’t play ball” with measures proposed in Richmond, Jimenez said.
The 2026 General Assembly will be the first in which Jennifer Van Ee will serve as the county’s legislative director. She was appointed earlier this year to succeed Claudia Arko, who died unexpectedly.
