Rent. Evictions. Public Housing. Race.

Rent. Evictions. Public Housing. Race.

Rents remain high to close out 2023. Here’s a look at the latest rental numbers as well as a deeper look at evictions in the region. The total average asking rent across all units was $1,805 / month in December.
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The average asking rent per month for each unit type:

Studio: $1,420
1 bedroom: $1,534
2 bedrooms: $1,743
3 bedrooms: $2,170
4+ bedrooms: $2,707

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City by City

Norfolk's Top Evictors

Last month we brought a sample of new eviction data released by UVA and VCU. Today we’re opening the cross-tabs to look more closely at this data.

The Breeden Co. is the number one evictor in Hampton Roads with 2,258 eviction judgements between 2018 and 2023. Actually, they’re the second biggest evictor in the state.

But in Norfolk, the number one evictor is the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority with 1,034 evictions. This matches with a recent report from Princeton’s Eviction Lab that public housing authorities are often the city’s most frequent ‘serial’ evictors. In that same report,  Portsmouth, Newport News, and Norfolk housing authorities all placed within the top ten serial evictors for housing authorities in the nation.

In short, a major part of Hampton Roads’ eviction problem can be traced back to public housing authorities. The good news is that public housing authorities are subject to more accountability than a private landlord, and that might make it an easier avenue to begin changing the eviction landscape in the region.

Click on the picture to zoom in.

It might not be obvious at first that the NRHA evicts the most. Court filings list the NRHA as “Norfolk RHA,” “NRHA,” “NRHA Mission College LP,” and “NRHA Mission College Limited Partnership.” Mission College is a tax-credit development owned by partnership with the NRHA.  

Evictions Per Population

Richmond City has the most evictions in Virginia, with close to 33,000 evictions between 2018 and 2023. But when we account for population size, the story looks a bit different. Per capita, 145 out of every 1000 people were evicted in Richmond. In Newport News, 153 out of every 1000 people were evicted. Newport News, Portsmouth, and Norfolk all place in the top ten evicting cities per capita in the state.

However, neither number comes close to Petersburg where 265 out of every 1000 people were evicted. That would mean that between 2018 and 2023, 1/ 4 of Petersburg was evicted. Randomly think about four of your friends and imagine one of them is now evicted. I

Importantly, the same person can be evicted multiple times, which might account for some of the high eviction rates. But UVA/VCU does not list defendants among their eviction data.  

The Blacker the City, the More Evictions.

Looking at the evictions and population, we can start to ask what are some of the demographic factors at work here? In a sampling of court jurisdictions across Virginia, race seems to be a strong factor in determining the geography of evictions in Virginia. For example, Petersburg is 73% African American.

We see that cities with higher a percentage of African Americans have more evictions. This matches a national trend that finds Black renters face significantly higher evictions rates than White renters.

Even if one wants to account for Petersburg as an “outlier” the trend line still shows a correlation between race and evictions.

CityWork in the News

CityWork research was recently featured in stories from WHRO by Ryan Murphy and News13 by Dana Smith. You can check them out below!

o "Which city has the highest average rent in Hampton Roads? The answer may surprise you." WHRO | Ryan Murphy

o "New 'anti-rent gouging bill' in Virginia General Assembly would limit how much rent landlords can charge" News 13 | Dana Smith

Eviction Data: UVA Equity Center/VCU Eviction Lab, 2023, https://virginiaequitycenter.shinyapps.io/va-evictors-catalog/

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2023 was a big year for us.

Thank you to everyone who has supported CityWork over the year. Whether you shared this report with friends and colleagues, or used this data to advance your mission, you have helped us provide Hampton Roads with valuable research on rent, climate change, evictions, gun violence, and more. A special thanks to those who have supported us financially, without you CityWork wouldn't exist.

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