Shame put Virginia on course to stronger tenant protections

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — When four people facing eviction arrived at a Virginia Beach courthouse in early August, they never had to stand before a judge, a process that for many can be stressful and humiliating.

Instead, an attorney representing landlords told them their housing woes were being resolved: each tenant had either caught up on rent or qualified for Virginia’s $1 billion rental assistance program.

“For the most part, landlords and tenants are working together to get the rent paid,” said the attorney, Michael Hipps.

The scene contradicted the image of a state that, up until a few years ago, was considered a civic embarrassment for its staggering rate of evictions. Five of Virginia’s cities ranked in the national top 10, according to a 2018 report from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University.

Three years later, Virginia is offering stronger protections and assistance to tenants whose lives have been upended by the coronavirus pandemic. The state has even become a national leader in distributing federal rental assistance dollars, while evictions have fallen.

It’s thanks in part to the glaring spotlight of Princeton’s data, which appeared in The New York Times. The unwanted publicity put lawmakers, housing advocates and landlord groups on a path that began well before the virus spread.

“It was very embarrassing to be in the national news for something so terrible,” said Del. Marcia Price, a Democrat from Newport News, which was ranked fourth nationally for evictions.

“I don’t want to say the conversations started with that, but it definitely helped amplify the work and the voices of those who were speaking up,” said Price, who has authored eviction-related legislation. “Everybody knew something had to be done.”

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