Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Virginia Housing Study Commission Records, 1970-2004. Accession 41286, State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Accession 41286 transferred by Nancy M. Ambler, Executive Director and Counsel, Virginia Housing Study Commmission, 601 S. Belvidere Street, Richmond, Va., 30 June 2004.

Processing Information

This collection has been processed using minimal processing standards: the original arrangement has been maintained, the container list is brief and simple, and the records have not been refoldered and fasteners have not been removed.

Biographical/Historical Information

The Virginia Housing Study Commission was established as an independent legislative agency by the Virginia General Assembly in April 1970. Rural and urban studies had previously found that substandard housing was a statewide problem. The Commission was ordered to "study and report its recommendations on the ways and means best designed to utilize existing resources and to develop facilities that will provide the Commonwealth's growing population with adequate housing." The Commission was initially comprised of 9 members, but the membership was later increased to 11, including five members of the House of Delegates, three members of the Senate and three gubernatorial appointees. The Commission's existence was continued by Act of Assembly in 1972, 1974 and 1976. The Commission worked to establish the Virginia Housing Development Authority (VHDA), aided in the passage of the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, helped pass the Uniform Statewide Building Code, and worked to ensure public building accessibility to disabled persons. The Commission also helped start the Virginia Housing Partnership Fund and the Virginia Indoor Plumbing Program.

A motion to collapse the operations of the Virginia Housing Study Commission into the Department of Legislative Services was presented and passed at the June 8, 2004 meeting of the Commission. The Virginia Housing Study Commission ceased to exist as an independent agency on June 30, 2004, with Nancy M. Ambler serving as the last executive director. Once under the heading of the Department of Legislative Services, the name was changed to the Virginia Housing Commission. The Commission still studies housing policy and continues to make recommendations to the General Assembly relating to housing, real property and community development issues.

Scope and Content

Contains mostly correspondence and subject files relating to the operations and activities of the Virginia Housing Study Commission. The material was created and used by Nancy M. Amber, Executive Director and Counsel, and her assistant, Nancy Blanchard. Included are annual reports, budget information, project files, meeting notes, publications and legislative material. Also included in this collection are electronic records (email and other documents on compact disks), photographs, and audio tapes. The records pertain to a variety of housing-related subjects, including the Virginia Housing Partnership Fund, landlord-tenant relations, eminent domain, public hearings on housing issues, homelessness, and predatory lending. Many of the records are still housed in their original binders. There is some duplication of files between the two series, so it would benefit the researcher to examine the content lists for both series.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series:

Series I. Correspondence and Subject Files (Executive Director, Nancy Ambler), 1970-2004 Series II. Correspondence and Subject Files (Assistant, Nancy Blanchard), 1971-2004

The physical arrangement of the collection has been maintained, but arrangement in the finding aid is alphabetical by folder title. (A box-by-box folder list is available in the receipt file).