Henrico County, Virginia, home to the Richmond metro area and an epicenter for new data centers, is using the growth of data centers to fund affordable housing.
As Christina Plerhoples Stacy explains in a piece for the Urban Institute’s Urban Wire, “Using tax revenue from data centers, Henrico County seeded a new affordable housing trust fund to fuel homeownership and long-term housing affordability. This financing means developers don’t need to rely on federal programs with long processes and complex compliance hurdles.” The program also shores up funding in a time when federal housing assistance is in jeopardy.
By leveraging the success of data centers in the region, Henrico County offers a unique funding model for affordable housing that turns a potential liability into a community asset, helping to prevent displacement and a steep increase in housing costs…