RVA EVICTION LAB

Ben Teresa studies the changing relationship between finance and cities. His research examines how the increasing role of financial institutions, actors, and logic—sometimes referred to as the “financialization” of the economy—affects urban development and governance. Rooted in a community-engaged approach that emphasizes democratic inquiry and distributed expertise, his research focuses on how financialization positions communities and planners to exercise control over the institutions that shape how cities change.

Dr. Howell co-founded the lab with Dr. Teresa in 2018 and served as the co-director until 2023. She is currently the Director of the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education and Associate Professor in the Urban Studies & Planning Program at the University of Maryland. Dr. Howell investigates ways to interrupt ongoing patterns of migration, displacement and segregation in cities. Her work focuses on affordable housing and public spaces to explore redevelopment, displacement and governance. She has specifically looked at the preservation of affordable housing in Washington, DC, examining the intersection between policies, governance and the built environment. She was previously a practitioner in local government developing housing and community development policy in Washington, DC and Maryland agencies.

RVA Eviction Lab Staff

Connor White, Research Assistant
Connor collects and analyzes quantitative data on eviction, property, and real estate entities in Virginia localities. He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Post-Baccalaureate Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems in 2019 and with a Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Studies in 2017. He is interested in the role that data plays in advocacy, studying urban political economy, and creating and looking at maps.

Atticus Johnson, Graphic Communications & Research Assistant 
Atticus is an undergraduate student studying Political Science and Fundamentals of Computing. He is a research assistant for the RVA Eviction lab. Atticus is a tech whiz that programs in several languages including HTML/CSS, Python, Java, and R. As a Richmond native, Atticus is very passionate about using technology to help his community. 

Corey Nolan, PhD Student Researcher
Corey Nolan holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master of public administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. While pursuing a Ph.D. in public policy and administration, she serves as a graduate teaching assistant/researcher and federal government contractor. Her work experience administering HUD’s Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST design and construction resource center informs her research interests. Her research interests include housing policy with respect to disability and housing affordability. In her spare time, she enjoys caring for her pet hedgehog, Olive.

Cami Hart, VERP Liaison
Cameron (Cami) holds a BS in Political Science and is currently second-year graduate student in the Master’s of Public Administration program at VCU’s Wilder School. Upon graduation, Cami worked as an academic advisor at VCU, serving students who were first-generation, low income, and or had disabilities. She now assists the lab primarily with the Virginia Eviction Reduction Pilot (VERP) in coordination with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). She is passionate about Racial disparities within the wealth gap, the prison industrial complex and its impact on minority communities, Political research that advocates for underrepresented communities.

RVA Eviction Lab Alumni

Ansley Fitzpatrick, Communications Coordinator/Volunteer
Callie Houghland, Wilder Fellow
James Lambert, Graduate Research Assistant
Hannah Woehrle, Wilder Fellow
Maria Tova Enriquez Dougherty, Wilder Fellow
Amy Clifton-Mills, Graduate Research Assistant
Annie Weidhaas, Graduate Research Assistant
Chesley DeLeon, Wilder Fellow, 2020-2021
Leah Demarest, Graduate Research Assistant 2019-2021
Amelie Rives, Wilder Fellow 2019-2020
Woody Rogers, Research Assistant
Anna Clemens, Graduate Research Assistant
Eric Sundberg, Research Assistant
Alexandria Ashe, Research Assistant