GPLA Presents to Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference on the Vienna Social Housing Model

Interest in the Vienna Social Housing model is growing across California and the US, with some communities having begun implementing key components of the model. Seattle, WA; Montgomery County, MD; and Atlanta, GA, have established structures that incorporate formal public-private partnerships, which are key to making this mixed-income approach successful.

Emerging interest in the Vienna model is also occurring in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In mid-November, Jennifer LeSar, Founder and CEO of the LeSar family of firms, and Pam Kestner, Chief of Staff of the Global Policy Leadership Academy, presented at a concurrent session of the 2024 Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference (VGHC) in Virginia Beach. The conference is the largest housing conference held in the Commonwealth, drawing over 1,100 housing and homelessness professionals and advocates.

The session, Building a Movement: Innovating Mixed-Income Housing Concepts in the United States, painted a picture of how the current approach to developing affordable housing is falling painfully short of meeting communities’ needs. Across Virginia, there is a shortage of affordable rental homes and available to extremely low-income households (ELI), whose incomes are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income (AMI). Many of these households are severely cost-burdened, spending more than half their income on housing. Severely cost-burdened poor households are more likely than other renters to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay the rent and to experience unstable housing situations like evictions.

Not only are ELI households struggling to access and maintain affordable housing but so are low- and middle-income households. Faced with this challenge, government and community leaders must find new, innovative approaches to address the current housing crisis effectively. Session participants were provided an overview of an innovative approach to mixed-income housing, also referred to as social housing, and how Vienna’s belief that housing is a right for all has impacted how the city approaches housing development.

Participants learned how GPLA’s theory of change emphasizes a holistic approach, combining education, practical experience, policy development, and community engagement to sustainably increase housing supply. With this theory of change in mind, GPLA designed the biannual Vienna Social Housing Field Study as a practical, hands-on learning experience, ensuring participants are active agents of change, equipped to address the housing crisis with innovative and sustainable solutions. Enrollment for the April and September 2025 Vienna trips is now open.

Mss. LeSar and Kestner were joined on the panel by Matt Bedsole, Director of the Housing Innovation Lab embedded in the Atlanta Mayor’s Office. Mr. Bedsole provided details on the City of Atlanta’s efforts to develop and implement an innovative approach to mixed-income housing; Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has made it a goal to create or preserve 20,000 units of affordable housing by the end of 2029.

Mr. Bedsole reported that they researched several models, including Vienna, Austria, and Montgomery County, MD, before designing the city’s approach to meet the mayor’s goal. Atlanta Urban Development (AUD) was created to expand affordable housing without relying on Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LITHC) funding, realizing the value of public land as a significant source of equity by leveraging public investment. AUD was “conceived to unlock the over $700 million in land value held by the City of Atlanta and its public partners in underutilized or vacant property.”

This VGHC session indicated significant interest among Virginia housing professionals and advocates in innovative approaches to addressing the dire need to increase the supply of affordable housing. Building on that interest, efforts are underway to assemble a delegation from Virginia that will join delegations from California and other parts of the US for the April 2025 Vienna Social Housing Field Study. Interested participants can register for and learn more about the field study here.