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By Carly R. Wright, Staff Editor<\/p>\n
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Last year, the New York Times published a Princeton University study on eviction rates in the U.S. that revealed something troubling: The City of Richmond had the second highest eviction rate in the country.[1]<\/a> In 2016, one in nine Richmond families were evicted through legal action and one in five were threatened with eviction.[2]<\/a> Moreover, over 30% of Richmonders receive an eviction notice in any given year.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Troubled by these numbers, Richmond Mayor Levan Stoney proposed a solution early this year: a Diversion Eviction Program.[4]<\/a>According to Mayor Stoney, this program provides evictees with a \u201cclean slate\u201d by helping tenants avoid an eviction on their rental history while guaranteeing landlords are paid back the money they are owed using a payment plan.[5]<\/a> Eligible tenants may receive financial assistance in paying back money owed to landlords.[6]<\/a> The program utilizes pro bono attorneys who act as mediators between tenants and landlords, and provides mandatory financial literacy courses.[7]<\/a> Tenants are eligible for this program only once, and would be able to stay in their homes while paying their rental debt.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n Richmond City Council recently approved \u00a0a $485,140 grant to finance the program.[9]<\/a> The grant goes towards Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME), a nonprofit fair housing organization, who will implement and oversee the program.[10]<\/a> The grant will also be used to help families facing evictions pay off up to 50% of their arrearages. To qualify for the Diversion Eviction Program, a tenant must only have two late payments in six months, or three in twelve months.[11]<\/a> They must pay 25% of their back rent when the court hears their case, followed by paying off the remaining amount within 90 days, and paying monthly rent on time.[12]<\/a> The landlord must also agree to participate.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n This program could prevent not only the evictions of vulnerable individuals and families, but the aftermath of them as well.[14]<\/a> Eviction leads to financial instability and the possible loss of government programs, such as SNAP and Medicaid benefits, because individuals do not have an address to put on applications.[15]<\/a> The loss of a permanent address has other far-reaching effects. When families are evicted, oftentimes they resort to homeless shelters for housing.[16]<\/a> When children have to get to school and the parent(s) do not have their own personal transportation, they have to ride the bus, even though a bus may not come to that shelter.[17]<\/a> Richmond Public Schools have had to adjust bus routes to accommodate for these children and ensure they get to school.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n While only a small number of people will be reached through this program because of its prerequisites, it is a start to solving the eviction crisis in Richmond. While the Richmond program goes underway, the Commonwealth of Virginia has also passed a pilot program geared towards the same types of renters.[19]<\/a> On the list of cities with the highest eviction rates, Virginia held five of the top ten spots, and the legislation is set to improve these numbers.[20]<\/a> Although eviction is a complex issue with many causes and effects, the state legislature, along with organizations dedicated to fair and equitable housing, are working on solutions.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a>See<\/em>Emily Badger and Quoctrung Bui, In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America, New York Times (April 7, 2018).<\/p>\n [2]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a>Sara McCloskey, Richmond On Track to Launch Virginia\u2019s First Eviction Diversion Program, As State Works On Its Own<\/em>, ABC News (May 30, 2019).<\/p>\n [5]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a>Jeremy M. Lazarus, HOME to Begin Eviction Diversion Program<\/em>, Richmond Free Press \u00a0(Sept. 6, 2019 at 6AM).<\/p>\n [10]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [12]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [13]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [14]<\/a>Sean Galvin, Richmond Tackles City\u2019s Eviction Crisis with New Grant<\/em>, The Dogwood(Sept. 18, 2019 at 2:23PM).<\/p>\n [15]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [16]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [17]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [18]<\/a>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n [19]<\/a>H.B. 2655, 2019 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Va. 2019).<\/p>\n [20]<\/a>See<\/em>Emily Badger and Quoctrung Bui, In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America<\/em>, New York Times(April 7, 2018).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Carly R. Wright, Staff Editor Last year, the New York Times published a Princeton University study on eviction rates in the U.S. that revealed something troubling: The City of Richmond had the second highest eviction rate in the country.[1] In 2016, one in nine Richmond families were evicted through legal action and one in five were threatened with eviction.[2] Moreover, over 30% of … Continue reading Diversion: Not Just for Speeding Tickets<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/pilr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}