Virginia Housing Alliance Housing Credit Conference Eviction Prevention & Racial Equity in Housing September 24, 2019 Martin Wegbreit, Esq., Director of Litigation Central Virginia Legal Aid Society 101 West Broad Street, Suite #101 Richmond, VA. 23220 804-200-6045 (V) & 804-649-8794 (F) marty@cvlas.org (E-mail)

The Virginia eviction crisis & its causes Virginia has five of the top ten highest eviction rates among large U.S. cities: #2 – Richmond (11.44%) #3 – Hampton (10.49%) #4 – Newport News (10.23%) #6 – Norfolk (8.65%) #10 – Chesapeake (7.9%) Virginia has three of the top five highest eviction rates among mid- size U.S. cities: #2 – Petersburg (17.56%) #4 – Hopewell (15.69%) #5 – Portsmouth (15.07%)

The Virginia eviction crisis & its causes Lack of affordable housing Poverty Unfavorable landlord-tenant laws Archaic legal terminology Relatively higher cost of living Gentrification Foreclosure aftermath Older housing stock Relatively lower wages Relatively little support for tenants Five years without Medicaid expansion Government sponsored segregation

1937 Richmond Residential Security Map 2016 Richmond Eviction Map

The Richmond eviction crisis & its causes ● 30.9% of all Richmond renters receive a notice of eviction each year ● Court eviction affects about 40,000 people in Richmond subject to 17,981 eviction lawsuits filed each year ● Most eviction lawsuits result in judgments of possession - 10,929 of them ● Most judgments of possession result in writs of possession authorizing the sheriff to forcibly remove the tenant - 9,381 of them ● Richmond Sheriff’s office evicts 2,688 families each year. A large number of tenants also involuntarily move before sheriff arrives to forcibly evict. ● Eviction is not just one problem. It is a dozen problems. It affects whether people have access to banks or payday lenders, where children go to school, where their parents get jobs, can buy food, get health care, have access to public transportation, and live in a safe or crime-ridden area. The stress of eviction also makes it a mental health issue.

● Families with children are evicted at double the rate of families without children. Eviction is a child welfare issue. ● Ten out of eighteen Richmond elementary schools in neighborhoods with eviction rates above the City average of 11.44% are unaccredited ● Six out of seven Richmond elementary schools in neighborhoods with eviction rates below the City average of 11.44% are fully accredited ● Richmond eviction rate increases as the share of the minority population increases, even when holding income and other factors constant. Eviction is a racial issue. ● Eviction poses immediate risk of homelessness & loss of personal property, and families move into poor quality neighborhoods & housing ● Likelihood of being laid off is 15% higher for workers who had an eviction ● A judgment of possession, or even the filing of an eviction lawsuit, makes it much harder for a family to rent another unit and may make a family not eligible for affordable housing

THE GEOGRAPHY OF EVICTION IN RICHMOND: BEYOND POVERTY Benjamin F THE GEOGRAPHY OF EVICTION IN RICHMOND: BEYOND POVERTY Benjamin F. Teresa, PhD RVA Eviction Lab The most common reason landlords evict tenants is for not paying rent. At first glance, it may seem logical to assume that poverty—simply not having enough money to make rent—is the underlying cause of eviction. However, households face various kinds of displacement pressure that ultimately causes them to be unable to afford rent, many other less common reasons for eviction, and involuntary displacement that occurs outside of the formal, legal eviction process. This report focuses on the relationship between eviction and urban geography in the City of Richmond in order to begin to unravel the different causes of eviction and how they are distributed across the city. The report examines neighborhood-level eviction data and what factors have measurable effects on the eviction rate.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF EVICTION IN RICHMOND: BEYOND POVERTY Benjamin F THE GEOGRAPHY OF EVICTION IN RICHMOND: BEYOND POVERTY Benjamin F. Teresa, PhD RVA Eviction Lab The analysis shows that: • Neighborhood racial composition is a significant factor in determining eviction rates, even after controlling for income, property value, and other characteristics. • As the share of the African American population increases, the eviction rate increases. • As the share of non-Hispanic Whites increases, the eviction rate decreases. • Demographic and housing market characteristics do not explain why high & low eviction rates are concentrated in certain parts of the city, suggesting that other factors such as rental housing ownership, financing, and property management strategies may play an important role in eviction.

SOURCE: VA DEPT OF EDUCATION, PRINCETON EVICTION LAB, US DEPT OF EDUCATION OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS

Richmond Region Percent non-white/Percent Black Poverty Rate Median Property Value Median Household Income Percent Rent Burdened Median Rent Percent Renter Occupied Most influential Neighborhood Characteristics’ Influence on Eviction Rate Less Influential

Hampton Roads Region Percent non-white/Percent Black Median Household Income Percent Renter Occupied Median Property Value Percent Rent Burdened Poverty Rate Median Rent Most influential Neighborhood Characteristics’ Influence on Eviction Rate Less Influential

Virginia Percent non-white/Percent Black Median Property Value Percent Rent Burdened Poverty Rate Percent Renter Occupied Median Rent Median Household Income Most influential Neighborhood Characteristics’ Influence on Eviction Rate Less Influential