by Kashish Pillai, Housing Justice Policy Analyst

Housing has been fundamental to building wealth and stability in the United States and in Virginia, it has too often been wielded as a tool of racial discrimination against Black and Brown communities. Today’s housing crisis did not appear out of nowhere - it’s a direct result of decades of deliberate policies that have systematically denied communities of color the opportunity to build generational and community wealth through homeownership. In present day Virginia, only 48% of Black households own their home compared to 73% of their white counterparts [7]. 

Redlining’s Lasting Impact
During the Great Depression, the federal government stepped in to help struggling homeowners (who were predominately white) by creating the Home Owners Loan Corporation. But this assistance came with a catch. Bankers created color-coded maps that tied property values directly to race, marking neighborhoods with higher proportions of nonwhite communities as “risky” investments - literally drawing red lines around these communities [4]. Virginia cities like Richmond, Norfolk, Newport News, Portsmouth, Hampton Roads, and Roanoke all bore the scars of this practice [5]. 

Despite being outlawed in 1967, the lasting effects of redlining continue to shape our communities. White families were given a headstart in building wealth through homeownership, while Black and Brown neighborhoods faced decades of disinvestment, gentrification, and poor environmental conditions, setting the stage for today’s disparities. 

How Appraisal Bias Continues the Cycle
The legacy of redlining lives on through modern-day appraisal bias.

One study based in Richmond City found that homes in Black-majority neighborhoods lose 17% of their value compared to identical homes in other areas. But the impact goes beyond property values. Previously redlined neighborhoods in Richmond face a cascade of challenges:

-Less access to green spaces and higher exposure to pollution [4]
-Higher rates of health problems, including asthma and cardiovascular disease [6]
-Lower quality housing stock and longer commutes to jobs [3] 
-Higher temperatures due to few green spaces and excess pavement [6]

Discriminatory lending practices have long-standing consequences on low-income and people of color, segregating neighborhoods to be highly susceptible to serious health hazards and morbidity due to decades of strategic disinvestment. Without proper intervention to supply quality housing, access to green spaces, clean air, and other socioeconomic opportunities, this trend continues in the home sales and rental market. 

Today’s Crisis: Rent Gouging
After decades of racist housing policies and increased barriers to homeownership, families of color disproportionately rely on rental housing for shelter. Now these same communities face an emerging threat in the rental market: predatory rent increases. Since 2019, corporate and predatory landlords have raised rents by over 30% in Virginia [12]. In 2024, landlords again hiked rents by an average 6-9% in localities from Wise to Pittsylvania to Prince William to Gloucester counties. In some cases, rent has spiked much higher: 40-50% in one year [12]. 

The impact? Virginia now holds five of the top ten cities with the highest eviction filing rates nationwide [13]. While Black residents make up only 18.6% of Virginia renters, they account for over half of all eviction filings[10]. Families with Black children are nearly twice as likely as those with white children to be evicted [11]. 

Rising rent costs disproportionately impact low-income families, particularly those with children, elderly, and disabled family members, as well as Black, Indigenous, Asian/Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Latinx families, making it more difficult for them to secure stable, affordable, and safe housing [14]. 

Solutions: Building a More Equitable Housing Future
Solutions are within our means and Virginia lawmakers have the responsibility to invest in healthy and equitable housing and communities. To correct the imbalanced dynamic in the housing market, we encourage lawmakers to invest in the following solutions:

Immediate Relief:

• Allow localities the ability to place limits on excessive rent increases 
• Extend the pay or quit notice period from 5 to 14 days
• Increase investment in eviction prevention funding
• Preserve affordable housing and expand rental assistance programs

Long-term Investment:

• Encourage private lenders to provide special-purpose credit programs for home improvements in Black neighborhoods 
• Improve public transit and pedestrian infrastructure to connect communities with jobs and services
• Expand tree cover and green space to improve environmental health
• Increase funding for affordable housing development and preservation

When families have stable housing, they can build stable lives. Housing is the cornerstone to successful, sustainable, thriving communities. When our homes are unstable, it often triggers a chain reaction that can negatively impact entire communities. All Virginia families deserve a chance to build a sustainable future, regardless of their race, income, or neighborhood. We have the tools to fix this crisis - what we need now is the political will to use them. 

Sources

[1] Black Codes (1865). National Constitution Center – constitutioncenter.org. (n.d.). https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/mississippi-south-carolina-black-codes-1865#:~:text=The%20Black%20Codes%20were%20a,1866%20and%20the%20Fourteenth%20Amendment 

[2] Black Codes. American Battlefield Trust. (n.d.). https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/black-codes  

[3] Appraisal bias and underinvestment harm home values in ... HOME of VA . (n.d.). https://homeofva.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Appraisal-Bias-May-2024.pdf 

[4] Lathan, N. (2023, September 20). 50 years after being outlawed, redlining still drives neighborhood health inequities. UC Berkeley Public Health. https://publichealth.berkeley.edu/news-media/research-highlights/50-years-after-being-outlawed-redlining-still-drives-neighborhood-health-inequities  

[5] Mapping Inequality. Digital Scholarship Lab. (n.d.). https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/map#loc=8/37.5639/-77.9041 

[6] Redlining Richmond. (n.d.). https://dsl.richmond.edu/redliningrichmond/ 

[7] Chapter 30 Addressing Racial Equity In Housing Across Virginia: HB854 Statewide Housing Study. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development and Virginia Housing. (n.d.). https://dmz1.dhcd.virginia.gov/HB854/part-5-racialequity.html  

[8] Chapter 16 Rental Market: HB854 Statewide Housing Study. The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development and Virginia Housing. (n.d.-a). https://dmz1.dhcd.virginia.gov/hb854/part-3-rental.html 

[9] Vogell, H. (2022, February 7). When private equity becomes your landlord. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/article/when-private-equity-becomes-your-landlord 

[10] Graetz, N., Gershenson, C., Hepburn, P., & Desmond, M. (2023, August 16). A comprehensive demographic profile of the US evicted ... PNAS. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2305860120  

[11] Benfer, E. A. (2022, November 2). U.S. eviction policy is harming children: The case for sustainable eviction prevention to promote health equity - Petrie-Flom Center. The Petrie-Flom Center. https://petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2022/11/02/pandemic-eviction-policy-children/#:~:text=Families%20of%20children%20born%20with,white%20children%20to%20be%20evicted.