Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund

Background

SB 756 / HB 1309: In 2022, under the Youngkin Administration, the Virginia General Assembly established the Resilient Virginia Revolving Fund (RVRF). Administered by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the RVRF provides statewide loans and grants for property-scale hazard mitigation, federal grant matches, and seed funding for local government resilience loan programs. Eligible applicants include local governments and political subdivisions such as localities, authorities, districts, and commissions created by the General Assembly.

The RVRF was initially capitalized with $25 million from the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fund to meet the 10% match requirement for federal assistance through FEMA’s Safeguarding Tomorrow Revolving Loan Fund. In 2023, the fund received an additional $100 million in the biennial budget, marking the first allocation of general fund resources toward pre-disaster flood risk prevention in Virginia. This infusion of capital underscores the state’s commitment to proactive resilience and disaster mitigation efforts.

We think it’s important to highlight the reality that loans are not a viable tool for the majority of our communities at this stage of climate adaptation and climate resilience work. Most communities do not have capacity, financial or staff, to manage a loan program, much less the capital to service the loans. We believe that in the near future the RVRF will be utilized by those localities that have more resources or existing financial infrastructure, but hope that in the not too distant future other communities will increase their capacity and utilize this helpful tool. The reality: we need as many tools in our financial toolbox as possible and this tool is one of the many we’ll need to develop as climate stressors worsen over time.