When The New York Times (April7,2018) published information from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, Virginia had five of the top 10 city eviction rates in the nation.  They were Richmond, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, and Chesapeake.

A new LWV_VA Study Committee began meeting in September 2019; it presented its report and study questions to the LWV-VA Council in June 2020.  The report focuses on renter households with homelessness.  The full report and slides from a powerpoint summary are available.  (Lead study author, Alice Tousignant,)

Highlights of the study

• Five Virginia cities, including Richmond, are among the 10 in the US with the highest eviction rates.
• Low-income Virginians are housing "cost-burdened," meaning they pay more than 30% of income for housing; 70% are "severely-cost burdened," paying more than 50% of income for housing.
• Affordable rental units are not available. For every 100 extremely-low-income renter households in Virginia, only 36 rental units are currently affordable and available.
• A minimum wage earner ($7.25/hour) needs to work 109 hours per week to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment in Virginia.
• Virginia could provide resources and enact legislation to increase the supply of affordable housing and to reduce evictions.

Please RSVP to with SHRLeague [at] gmail.com "Affordable Housing" as the subject