The neighbor
who builds

Forest Hayes has spent his career in affordable housing — not talking about it. Building it. While others discovered "workforce housing" as a talking point, Forest was in the development shops, the funding meetings, and the county hearings actually getting it built.

As Chair of the Loudoun County Planning Commission, he used the gavel the way it's supposed to be used. The planning commission decides what Loudoun gets in exchange for zoning — and Forest's position was simple: growth pays for the community it lands on. When the data center industry wanted rezonings, Forest wanted workforce housing investment in return. He said it in hearings. He said it on live TV. He's still saying it.

Today he serves as a Virginia Housing Commissioner, carrying Loudoun's affordability fight to the state level.

He's a Howard University graduate and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. You'll find him handing letters to brand-new Eagle Scouts, celebrating the Fourth of July in Leesburg, and knocking doors alongside volunteers — because he believes campaigns, like communities, are powered by people.

In 2019, his "Run Forest Run" campaign for the Board of Supervisors put workforce housing on Loudoun's agenda before it was everyone's talking point. Six years later, everybody's talking about it. Forest was there first — and he's still here.