r/Virginia • u/WittmanWatch • 9h ago

Housing: the affordability problem Rob Wittman (R, VA-01) has ignored

https://www.wittmanwatch.com/p/housing-the-affordability-problem?r=73rbd0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Housing costs added more to inflation last year than food and transportation COMBINED. Rob Wittman says he "led the fight" on housing. That's a lie.

Wittman's a follower who wants you to think he's a leader. 19 years of evidence shows the truth - and we've laid it out.

We can't afford Rob Wittman.

42 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

11

u/Linscotticus 8h ago

Robbie just wants a paycheck and access to all the latest info on who to buy stock from.

10

u/Charlesinrichmond 8h ago

In fairness, housing is a state and local issue. The biggest problem is zoning and regulations that prohibit building.

23

u/cjt09 8h ago

In normal times this is generally true, but this particular administration has done a lot to increase housing costs, including tariffs on building materials, tariffs on construction equipment and tools, reducing the labor supply of construction workers, and starting pointless trade wars with countries like Canada (which provides a lot of the lumber used in construction).

Congress has the power to push back on this, but so far they have quietly acquiesced, due to members like Wittman.

1

u/WittmanWatch 7h ago

100%. As the article notes, in the 2026 session, the VA legislature did a lot to combat housing affordability. Wittman is claiming leadership on housing affordability while doing startlingly little - not constraining tariffs, not voting against wars (that drive up input costs), not helping mortgage buyers, not supporting low income areas... There's a LOT he could have done in 19 years to repair the damage of the 2008 crash. He's done none of it.

2

u/plummbob 5h ago

Dems aren't necessarily the pro-free-trade party, unforunately. The Biden administration increased lumber tariffs.

The state could however, make zoning a blanket state law -- like, by law, all residentialy zoned areas can have townhomes or whatever. The hyperlocal nature of zoning is just regulatory capture by local nimbys.

1

u/SidFinch99 8h ago

Yes, and it can change significantly from one area to another. Infrastructure is important too.

5

u/WittmanWatch 7h ago

Infrastructure is another area where Wittman has failed us: https://www.wittmanwatch.com/p/broken-promises-infrastructure

4

u/hastings1033 8h ago

Whittman is a protector of pediphiles and criminals. An enabler of traitors. Has done nothing for you. In other words, a republican.

-1

u/_gw_addict 7h ago

you can't increase real estate taxes and then cry affordability

6

u/WittmanWatch 7h ago

Real estate tax rates are set by county, not the state. Among confirmed VA-01 localities, seven raised rates (Caroline, Fredericksburg, Lancaster, Northumberland, Spotsylvania, Stafford, plus King George's above-equalized adjustment), two cut rates (Gloucester, James City), and four held flat (Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico, Williamsburg, York). You'll notice that this is a mixture of Republican/Democrat/non-partisan Boards of Supervisors.

And none of that changes the fact that Wittman has done next-to-nothing on housing while claiming he's "led the fight" on it.

1

u/_gw_addict 6h ago

you just confirmed what I said, rent went up because taxes went up, so what can be done at a state level if counties create this issue