republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2020/hb-854.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Affordable housing; VHDA, et al., to study ways to develop."
description: "Study; Department of Housing and Community Development and Virginia Housing and Development Authority; ways to incentivize the development of affordable housing in the Commonwealth of Virginia; report. Requests the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Virginia Housing and Development Authority to convene a stakeholder advisory group to (i) determine the quantity and quality of affordable housing across the Commonwealth, (ii) conduct a review of current programs and policies to determine the effectiveness of current housing policy efforts, (iii) develop an informed projection of future housing needs in the Commonwealth and determine the order of priority of those needs, and (iv) make recommendations for the improvement of housing policy in the Commonwealth."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 854"
citation: "Virginia HB 854 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Kathleen Murphy"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 28
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2020-01-07"
last_action: "2020-03-27"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/24771f4a-4d61-4e9c-92b7-d3a096b1b4c3"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+HB854"
source_hash: "be8fd6f70f92e178477b5084d649c546aac6738b0d9fe2ca3297d294c4c378a5"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 854 (2020) — Affordable housing; VHDA, et al., to study ways to develop.

Study; Department of Housing and Community Development and Virginia Housing and Development Authority; ways to incentivize the development of affordable housing in the Commonwealth of Virginia; report. Requests the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Virginia Housing and Development Authority to convene a stakeholder advisory group to (i) determine the quantity and quality of affordable housing across the Commonwealth, (ii) conduct a review of current programs and policies to determine the effectiveness of current housing policy efforts, (iii) develop an informed projection of future housing needs in the Commonwealth and determine the order of priority of those needs, and (iv) make recommendations for the improvement of housing policy in the Commonwealth.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0482)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0482)
2. **Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB854ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB854ER)
3. **Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB854H1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB854H1)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (HB854)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+HB854)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 0-N) — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Rules with substitute (17-Y 0-N) — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N) — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Rules (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Kathleen Murphy — primary (person)
- Alfonso H. Lopez — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-07** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20104978D `introduction`
- **2020-01-07** Referred to Committee on Rules `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-21** Impact statement from DPB (HB854)
- **2020-01-27** Assigned Rules sub: Studies `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-03** Subcommittee recommends reporting (5-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-07** House committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
- **2020-02-07** Reported from Rules with substitute (17-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-07** Committee substitute printed 20107775D-H1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-09** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-10** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-10** Committee substitute agreed to 20107775D-H1
- **2020-02-10** Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB854H1
- **2020-02-11** Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (99-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-11** Impact statement from DPB (HB854H1)
- **2020-02-11** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (99-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-12** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2020-02-12** Referred to Committee on Rules `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-21** Reported from Rules (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-24** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-25** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-25** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-03-02** Enrolled
- **2020-03-02** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (HB854ER)
- **2020-03-03** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-03-27** Approved by Governor-Chapter 482 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/24771f4a-4d61-4e9c-92b7-d3a096b1b4c3`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).