A House subcommittee voted 5-3 to lay on the table HB 17 90 after debate about potential unintended consequences, including concerns about redlining and residential segregation.

Delegate O'Rourke, the patron, proposed amendments that would allow localities to zone entire districts or individual parcels as "affordable housing" and added an enactment clause delaying the bill's effective date to July 1, 2026, with a directive that the Virginia Housing Commission review the measure and report suggestions by Nov. 1, 2025.

Proponents said the tool would let local governments incentivize lower front-end purchase prices and streamline permitting to reduce construction costs, thereby making homeownership more affordable. "By then meeting the definition we have, affordable housing is gonna lower the cost of the property on the front end," O'Rourke said.

The Virginia Housing Alliance opposed the bill, saying it could be used to re-segregate housing and that best practice is to build affordable units in areas of opportunity and mixed-income neighborhoods. The Home Builders Association raised similar concerns and asked that the issue be worked through the Housing Commission.

Committee members navigated substitute motions and ultimately voted to table the bill 5-3, adding a request that the committee chair send a letter to the Virginia Housing Commission asking for review. The transcript records the motion to table with the letter request and the roll call result.