Henrico’s housing trust fund has made new homes in communities including The Crossings at Mulberry (above) and Discovery Ridge (below) more affordable.
A coalition of officials, homebuilders and nonprofits has spent over a year and a half reshaping Henrico County’s housing future through deals and dirt.
Established in May 2024, Henrico’s affordable housing trust fund has put tax revenue sourced from data centers toward the construction of homes in Fairfield, Tuckahoe and Varina. As of September, the trust fund has helped finance 119 homes, with another seven under contract. Prices are determined by both market rates and area median income, and the program is aimed at potential homeowners making 60% to 120% AMI, or roughly $61,320 to $122,640 for a family of three, according to the county.
“The key for this program is homeownership,” says Eric Leabough, director of Henrico’s Department of Community Revitalization and board member of the Partnership for Housing Affordability, a regional nonprofit that administers the trust fund. “Since we adopted the plan, houses have only gotten more expensive, and [interest] rates are still pretty high compared to what they were [before 2020],” he says. “We closed out the first year strong, but we’ve got to put more units on the ground through the trust fund to really make a significant impact.”
In its first 17 months, PHA allocated $9.8 million of the $60 million set aside for the fund by Henrico officials, Leabough says. Any additional funding will depend on a review of PHA's performance and an assessment of community needs in 2029. Since creating the fund, however, Henrico officials have tried to limit the explosion of data centers in the county, which will also impact later PHA funding.
But, according to Sen. Mark Warner, the tug-of-war over data centers has already created benefits for communities, such as the affordable housing fund. At a September groundbreaking for 20 townhomes near Regency mall, he noted that it could be a model for local governments nationwide to make housing more affordable.
“We all know that data centers are controversial,” Warner said, “but to take a controversial issue like data centers and say, ‘We’re going to put [the revenue] into this combination land bank and housing trust fund,’ that, in itself, was remarkable.”
