HBAR Welcomes Andrew Basham – 78th President of HBAR

On Thursday, December 4th, 2025, Andrew Basham was sworn in as the 78th President of HBAR, succeeding Chad Joyce, in front of 368 members at The Jefferson Hotel. In case you missed it, here was his presidential address:

Good evening - Our company, Spy Rock, focuses primarily on apartment development, and I was asked to join the HBAR Board of Directors several years ago to further expand the role of multifamily inclusion at the board level and throughout the broader membership. HBAR has a robust Multifamily Council consisting of apartment developers, owners and consultants and we’ve been active since 2015. What we share with the for-sale homebuilding community is that we are all facing the same negative sentiment and headwinds in obtaining zoning approval of all housing types in the Richmond region. We are all united as HBAR’s mission has expanded from defending the dream of homeownership to protecting rentership and housing access all together. The right to a roof…period.

I moved to Richmond in 2007 from Falls Church. I had been developing housing in Northern Virginia for seven years and the entitlement challenges, national competition and timelines to bring projects to fruition became frustrating and defeating. I was able to find an affordable house for my growing family here in Richmond. I also found a far more welcoming development environment in Richmond. Yes, there were still zoning challenges in some neighborhoods, but overall, the region was far more receptive to the homebuilding industry and the investment that was being made to help house those who were moving up or relocating to Richmond. Before I arrived and for the 18 years since I’ve been here, Richmond has been a great place to build housing, but today our industry is facing unprecedented challenges in the region.

Demand is rising faster than supply. Public sentiment is fragmented. Local politics are reactive. Rezoning pipelines are tightening.

Take these facts, for example:

•    New home prices across all product types have increased 31% over the past five years.
•    Renters now make up 37% of regional households-and that share is climbing.  That share used to be closer to 30%.
•    Virginia Realtors projects more than a 22,000 home-supply shortage in the Richmond MSA as of 2025.
•    The number of entitled developable lots is shrinking- HBAR calls it the Rezoning Crash.
•    In 2021 and 2022 around 5,500 lots were approved in the region, in ’23 and ’24 that number fell to 2,700 and this year, we’re down to just over 1,000.  And that’s not for lack of trying.
•    The time between putting land under contract and delivering finished homes continues to stretch by years.
•    And now, County Supervisors are publicly stating that they were elected to slow new development and will not be approving new housing projects, and at the same time lamenting the lack of affordable housing options for the population.

We all know the best way to create more affordable housing, is to build more housing of all types. We have a real disconnect! In short, Richmond is beginning to look an awful lot like Northern Virginia, whether we like it or not.

If you’re worried about your pipeline, or the ability to keep your workforce deployed, you’re not alone. I’ve had those conversations with many of you. They all point to the same reality. Local governments have entered a cycle where elections are still two years away, but the debates are louder and rezoning approvals are harder to secure. Some jurisdictions are already informally saying “wait until after the next election” – these are unofficial moratoriums. For an industry already constrained on supply, that is an existential threat. And it’s exactly why HBAR’s mission is as critical today as it was when it was founded in 1946, when some 20,000 soldiers came home from WWII and the region needed housing at scale. Just like then, if we don’t stand up for housing, who will?

This is our collective imperative. If a business earns its living from the housing industry, you must help defend it – non-negotiable. We need to help each other. Trades, vendors, engineers, lenders, accountants, mortgage brokers…. We need you. And we need each of you to bring three more members from your professional circles. Consider requiring that your business partners join and remain members. HBAR is an insurance policy for your pipeline, and theirs.

To meet the moment, we needed a new offensive strategy. So, in 2025, as Chad mentioned, HBAR launched Yes to Homes – our newest grassroots platform. Its mission is to activate and mobilize voters who support new homes. We turn out constituents, prepare speakers, generate emails.... Just like candidates for elected office turn out what we call “favorables”… we are taking a play out their book.

Another critical asset is BuildPAC. As we approach Supervisor and City Council cycles, we know what happens – elected officials grow cautious, rezonings stall, and deferrals mount. They fear a vocal anti-housing minority, despite knowing that the majority of their constituents support growth and housing access. BuildPAC gives us the resources to support pro-housing candidates, and it is essential that we all in this room – and our partners – contribute.

I think I may have painted a rather bleak picture of our circumstances. Let me leave you with some positive takeaways.  

•    Since 2020, the region has seen a net population growth of over 50,000 people. That’s the equivalent of roughly the entire population of Powhatan and Goochland relocating to Richmond, in five years!  
•    The Weldon Cooper Center at UVA recently announced that the center of population for Virginia now sits in Caroline County-a sign of what’s coming as the population continues to move along the 95-64 corridor with Richmond right in the middle of that growth pattern. People will keep coming, and they will need housing.
•    In October, members of our leadership met with Governor-Elect Spanberger and her housing policy team. She is committed to prioritizing new housing development and easing development burdens. Her approach to housing policy is to work with local communities to increase supply. Three of our members have been asked to join her housing policy transition team, so HBAR now has a seat at the table at a state level. She may very well be able to positively influence the trends with democratic control of the legislature in the coming years, and we will stay actively engaged with her and her team to push for change at a local level.

Yes, our work is harder. Yes, the entitlement process is longer. But demand is not going away. In fact, the next decade could be one of the most consequential periods of growth Richmond has ever seen. And *we* are the industry that will house it.

Every day, 10s of thousands of people wake up and go to work building homes in this region. They are an important part of this economy’s backbone. They are behind every new home this region creates. Our job is to ensure they have something to build.

So, let’s educate our partners. Let’s share the value – and the necessity – of HBAR membership. Let’s unify behind our mission. Let’s protect the industry. Let’s protect access to for-sale and for-rent homes and deliver more of it – because we know this region needs it.

This is our year to build a pro-housing army and begin a concentrated effort behind our rezoning agenda. It’s our year to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, drawing on the same resolve the founders of HBAR showed in the 1940’s when the stakes were high.

Despite the challenges we face, I feel strongly that we can work together to improve the development outlook for our region over the coming years. I look forward to serving you and doing what I can to help you and your companies in 2026.