ADU Pass
Richmond Va S&dc
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Richmond Va S&dc — a USPS locale inside Richmond, Richmond city, Virginia — navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This locale covers 3 ZIP codes.
Richmond — city ADU rules and incentives
ADU legality: allowed-with-restrictions
Richmond opened a by-right ADU pathway in September 2023 in every residential zoning district. The principal frictions are CAR (Commission of Architectural Review) approval for the city's many local historic districts (Church Hill, Fan, Jackson Ward, Monument Avenue, Shockoe Bottom) and James River SFHA elevation requirements for waterfront and Shockoe Bottom / Manchester parcels.
City cost envelope
$184,200 all-in for a 600 sqft ADU (permit + build). Mid-size scenario.
Permit fee bundle: $3,600 (2026-05).
City viability (selected uses)
City of Richmond — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Richmond permits accessory dwelling units in R-1 through R-7 residential districts subject to use-specific standards adopted in the Richmond 300 master plan implementation. ADUs are permitted by right in many residential districts with detached cap typically 800 sqft; attached internal ADUs cap by percentage of principal dwelling. Owner-occupancy is required for ADUs in certain configurations. Off-street parking requirements were significantly reduced in 2021. Historic district overlays (Church Hill, Jackson Ward, Monument Avenue, the Fan, Shockoe Bottom, Manchester) impose Architectural Review Commission review on visible exterior modifications.
County regulatory overlays
Richmond administers a dense overlay regime that bears materially on ADU projects: (1) Floodplain Management Overlay tied to FEMA SFHA along the James River, Gillies Creek, Reedy Creek, and Bacon Quarter Branch — substantial coverage in Shockoe Bottom, Manchester, and along the river corridor; (2) Old and Historic District overlays administered by the Commission of Architectural Review (Church Hill, Jackson Ward, Monument Avenue, Shockoe Slip, Shockoe Bottom, Manchester, Boulevard, West Grace Street, and others); (3) Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area RPA/RMA on James River frontage; (4) Richmond National Battlefield Park federal proximity affecting parcels near park boundaries; (5) the federally-designated Slavery and Freedom Heritage Site (Lumpkin's Slave Jail / Devil's Half-Acre archaeology).
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Because Richmond is an independent city (county-equivalent), there is no separate county permitting authority. The city handles all matters that would in a typical state involve both city and county. A typical ADU permit bundle includes a Zoning Permit, a Special Use Permit when required, a Building Permit, trade permits, a Department of Public Utilities (DPU) sewer connection where applicable, a Floodplain Development Permit on James River floodplain parcels, and Commission of Architectural Review approval if within an Old and Historic District.
Virginia state — ADU law and programs
State ADU law
Virginia has NOT enacted a statewide ADU preemption law. Virginia is a Dillon Rule state — localities possess only those powers expressly granted by the General Assembly — and the statutes granting zoning authority (Va. Code § 15.2-2280 et seq.) leave ADU regulation to local ordinances. ADU permission, setbacks, parking, size, and owner-occupancy rules therefore vary by county, independent city, and town. Virginia is unique in that it has 38 independent cities that function as counties (neither in nor subordinate to the surrounding county), meaning 'the county' for any given Virginia property may be an independent city rather than a true county. Several ADU preemption bills have been introduced in recent General Assembly sessions (2022 through 2025) without enactment; none have advanced past committee as of the Assembly's 2026 regular session adjournment.
State financing programs
Virginia does not operate an ADU-specific statewide loan, grant, or forgivable-loan program. Virginia Housing (formerly the Virginia Housing Development Authority, VHDA — rebranded 2020) administers general first-time-homebuyer, down-payment-assistance (DPA), mortgage-credit-certificate, and rehabilitation products that can be applied to ADU-adjacent purchases or improvements when eligibility criteria are met, but none target ADU construction as a distinct product. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) administers federal HOME and CDBG pass-through funds that local jurisdictions can direct toward ADU-adjacent rehab, but there is no state-level ADU-dedicated line item. Federally available products (FHA 203(k), Fannie Mae HomeReady and HomeStyle Renovation, Freddie Mac CHOICERenovation) remain the primary ADU financing path for Virginia homeowners.
State housing programs
Virginia does not run a state-level pre-approved-ADU-plan catalog, statewide impact-fee-waiver statute for ADUs, or streamlined-review mandate. State-level programs that touch ADU-adjacent policy are coordinated primarily through the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Virginia Housing, and act by funding or assisting local jurisdictions rather than by preemption. Local ADU activity — Arlington County's Accessory Dwellings program (detached ADUs permitted since 2008, liberalized 2020), Alexandria's accessory-dwelling ordinance, Fairfax County's accessory-living-unit program, and Charlottesville's 2021 zoning-code changes — is authorized under the localities' Va. Code § 15.2-2280 zoning authority, not by state mandate.
- DHCD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program — Federal CDBG funds administered by DHCD to eligible non-entitlement Virginia localities for community-revitalization, housing-rehab, and infrastructure projects. Not ADU-specific. Participating localities can direct CDBG funds toward housing-rehab projects where local policy supports ADUs.
- DHCD HOME Investment Partnerships Program — Federal HOME funds administered by DHCD to Virginia participating jurisdictions and non-profits for affordable-housing acquisition, rehab, and new construction. Not ADU-specific; can be directed to ADU-adjacent rehab at local discretion.
- Virginia Housing Commission — Permanent advisory commission of the General Assembly that studies housing-policy questions and recommends legislation. Has periodically studied ADU preemption and missing-middle housing without recommending statewide enactment as of 2026-04-21.
- Local ADU ordinances under Va. Code § 15.2-2280 authority — Not a state program — listed here because Virginia ADU policy is executed entirely at the locality level under the § 15.2-2280 zoning grant. A homeowner seeking to build an ADU consults the zoning ordinance of the specific county, city, or town where the parcel is located.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.
ZIP Codes
- 23219
- 23220
- 23225
Post Office
- 1801 Brook Rd, 23232