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Unreasonable: Report from Virginia Poverty Law Center and RVA Eviction Lab
Unreasonable: The Dramatic Rise in Attorney Fees Charged to Tenantsin Virginia Residential Eviction Proceedings is a report from the Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) and the RVA Eviction Lab. In 2024, judges awarded nearly $18 million in fees to landlord attorneys in residential eviction cases across Virginia, a 48% increase from 2019 (inflation-adjusted), even as… read more
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An Analysis of The Benefits of a Right To Counsel in Richmond, VA
This report examines the costs associated with eviction in the City of Richmond and the benefits from providing a Right to Counsel (RTC) for tenants. While a right to counsel is constitutionally recognized in criminal proceedings, there is no equivalent federal constitutional right for civil cases, including eviction. In Richmond, nearly all landlords are represented… read more
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Observing Virginia’s Eviction Courts in Summer 2022
The Importance of Legal Representation and Judicial Approach* Georgia Clark, (Class of 2024), Government and Sociology major at William & Mary Maggie Inglesby, (Class of 2024), Sociology and Government major at William & Mary. Introduction We are William & Mary students who spent the summer of 2022 observing eviction court hearings in Richmond and Newport… read more
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THE VIRGINIA EVICTION REDUCTION PILOT PROGRAM: FINAL REPORT ON PHASE 1
In the Fall of 2020, the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development released a request for proposals for the Virginia Eviction Reduction Pilot (VERP) Program. Intended to inform post-crisis eviction prevention, VERP 1.0 relied on community-serving organizations – both government and nonprofit – to develop context-responsive assistance that stabilized households and reduced eviction rates… read more
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Eviction, Legal Counsel and the Courthouse
In October, we released a blog post from students who spent the summer observing cases in eviction court. Today, we are releasing our newest report, titled, “Eviction, Legal Counsel and the Courthouse.” In this in-depth report, we combine the data from summer eviction court observations with Virginia court records to understand how tenants are represented… read more
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The Human Cost of Eviction: How Eviction Exacerbates Social Inequality
The Human Cost of Eviction: How Eviction Exacerbates Social Inequality Simone Reid Introduction Eviction is driven by and exacerbates current and historic inequality in the United States. Even controlling for demographic factors such as income and home value, neighborhood racial composition continues to be the single biggest predictor of neighborhood eviction rates. This is representative… read more
