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It's time for our second annual Eviction Wrapped, where we look back at this year's biggest evictors. Eviction Wrapped is all about the landlords who helped make this the culture-defining, housing-shaking year it was. Just 50 companies, about 1% of landlords, are responsible for nearly 25% of all eviction cases in the region.
Well, 2024 is about wrapped up. That means it’s time for our second annual Eviction Wrapped, where we look back at this year's biggest evictors. Eviction Wrapped is all about the landlords who helped make this the culture-defining, housing-shaking year it was. Just 50 companies, about 1% of landlords, are responsible for nearly 25% of all eviction cases in the region.
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This year saw evictions drop across the region.* Last year over 48,300 evictions were filed in the seven cities. This year saw 35,458 evictions filed. That’s the first drop in evictions since 2020. And evictions fell in every city this year. With 35,000 evictions, Hampton Roads remains below its 2018 high with over 63,000 evictions filed that year.
*All data is from the RVA Eviction Lab and UVA Equity Center, unless otherwise noted.
Newport News took the top spot in 2024 as the city with the most eviction filings. In a repeat of last year’s contest, Virginia Beach was a close second. Both cities counted over 8,000 eviction filings from 01/2024 to 09/2024. Newport News, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Hampton, and Portsmouth, all in the top 10 cities for eviction filings in Virginia.
That tracks (and challenges) some of the data in our last report on rent debt. Around 8,000 households in Virginia Beach are behind on their rent, 4,900 households in Newport News.
National Equity Atlas/CityWork
The Breeden Company takes the crown as CityWork’s Top Evictor of 2024. For the second year of our Eviction Wrapped, The Breeden Company filed for the most evictions in Hampton Roads. Between January and September 2024, Breeden filed for 708 evictions. 381 of them resulted in eviction judgements. Since 2018, Breeden has filed for over 5000 evictions. Many of them are "serial evictions," meaning they repeatedly file evictions against the same household.
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority was the region’s third largest eviction filer in 2024, filing for 387 evictions with 140 ending in judgements. For clarity, that includes evictions filed by “Norfolk RHA,” and “NRHA Mission College.” Mission College is a tax-credit development owned in partnership with the NRHA. Not all eviction filings end in eviction judgements. Some renters negotiate settlements or resolve issues outside of court.
If all the housing authorities were one company, they’d be the second biggest evictor in the region. The NRHA, by far, files the most evictions compared to other regional housing authorities.
Where are Suffolk and Virginia Beach? The Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (SRHA) filed for over 200 evictions in 2018 and 2019, but during the pandemic those numbers fell to 5 filings. The data for 2024 did not indicate the SRHA filed any evictions. Virginia Beach doesn’t have public housing, though the housing non-profit Virginia Community Development Corp. filed for 86 evictions in 2024, with 26 judgements.
And that's the real estate investor. Just 50 companies, about 1% of landlords are responsible for nearly 25% of all eviction cases in Hampton Roads.Around 30 of those 50 are real estate investment firms, such as CAPREIT, Featherstone Partners, West End Capital, and Tryko Partners. These groups openly brag about their profits while lowering occupancy.
That's all from CityWork for this year. A tremendous thank you to everyone who donated to support us and shared our reports. From Tidewater Gardens data to short-term rental rules, noise pollution, rent debt, and supply-side housing theory, none of this work would happen without you. Onward to 2025, to continue our mission of democratizing data for Hampton Roads.
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