Loudoun County · Virginia

Forest
Hayes

Housing champion. Community builder. Loudoun neighbor.

A career affordable-housing professional who's spent years fighting for one simple idea: the people who serve Loudoun should be able to afford to live in Loudoun.

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Forest Hayes smiling in a navy suit with an American flag lapel pin
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Meet Forest

The neighbor who builds

Forest Hayes has spent his career in affordable housing — not talking about it. Building it. He serves as a Virginia Housing Commissioner, and as Chair of the Loudoun County Planning Commission he used the gavel the way it's supposed to be used: when the data center industry wanted zoning, Forest wanted workforce housing investment for Loudoun in return — and said so on live TV.

Howard University graduate. Kappa Alpha Psi man. Mentor, neighbor, and the loudest voice in the room for the people who keep Loudoun running.

VA Housing Commissioner Fmr. Chair, Loudoun Planning Commission Career housing professional Howard University alum
Meet Forest — the full story →
A diverse group of volunteers and family in Run Forest Run shirts
The Run Forest Run family, 2019. People powered — always.
The Record

Receipts, not promises

None of this is new. Forest has been making the same case — in debates, in the boardroom, on TV — for years.

Forest Hayes at the Catoctin Supervisor debate, name card reading Forest Hayes (D)
2019

On the debate stage

Candidate for Catoctin District Supervisor, making the case for workforce housing when it wasn't yet the popular thing to say.

Forest Hayes with Loudoun County officials in the board room
In the room

Where decisions get made

As Planning Commission Chair, Forest negotiated what Loudoun gets in exchange for growth — and pushed the county to stop selling itself short.

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The Fight

What Forest fights for

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Workforce housing

The people who serve Loudoun are commuting in from Frederick and Winchester because they can't afford to live here. Forest is the only voice in the room who has actually built affordable housing.

"If you serve Loudoun, you should be able to live in Loudoun."— Forest Hayes
🖥️

Data centers that pay their way

Loudoun is the data center capital of the world. Forest's position is both/and: keep paying the taxes that keep ours low, shrink the footprint, and invest in this community.

"You don't get to pay to lower our taxes and then get off scot-free."— Forest Hayes
💰

An affordable Loudoun

Affordability is the through-line — housing, taxes, the cost of staying in the county you grew up in. Every dollar should work as hard as the people who paid it.

"This has been the thing all along. It's just that now everybody's feeling it."— Forest Hayes
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In the Arena

Years in the work

Forest Hayes with Governor Abigail Spanberger at an evening event
With Gov. Abigail Spanberger
Forest Hayes shaking hands with U.S. Senator Tim Kaine
With U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine
Forest Hayes with U.S. Senator Mark Warner holding a Run Forest Run sign
With U.S. Sen. Mark Warner — 2019
Forest Hayes and neighborhood kids on a vintage red truck
The 2019 palm-card crew
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This movement runs on people

Not corporations. Not consultants. Neighbors. Be first to know what's next — events, updates, and how to help.

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Paid for by Forest Hayes for Virginia, Leonard C. Stephens Jr., Treasurer