Declaring evictions without legal representation a “public crisis,” the Richmond City Council voted Monday to back the creation of a program that would give tenants facing eviction a right to legal assistance in the courts. 

The resolution passed unanimously as part of the council’s consent agenda after several meeting attendees, including lawyers who help defend tenants in eviction proceedings, urged the body to support the measure.

David Tisel, a pro bono housing attorney at Hunton Andrews Kurth, invited council members to sit in the courthouse when batches of eviction cases are heard to see how easy it is for people to lose their housing without fully understanding what’s happening.

“You’ll see that every day dozens of people receive eviction judgements against them without a real opportunity to present a legal defense,” Tisel said.

City Councilor Andreas Addison (1st District), the lead sponsor of the resolution, said he had seen those court hearings firsthand.

“It is a very eye-opening experience and one that is pretty much the motivation of where this came from,” he said.

Richmond’s eviction rate came under public scrutiny in 2018, when a team of Princeton researchers found the city had one of the highest eviction rates in the nation, with roughly 1 in 11 renter households facing eviction. Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Chesapeake also showed up on the list. 

In the following years, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a series of laws aimed at curbing the flow of evictions, including measures that limit the late fees a landlord can charge, allow tenants to stay in their home if they pay everything they owe two business days before the scheduled eviction date and require leases to outline tenant rights and responsibilities. 

But some housing advocates say that in eviction cases, which are civil rather than criminal proceedings, the scales remain tipped against tenants because they are not guaranteed legal representation. 

“Eviction court operates like a confusing, fast-paced assembly line, with packed dockets and rapid-fire cases,” Annika Schunn of the Virginia Poverty Law Center told a City Council committee Sept. 17. “Judges and landlords’ attorneys move quickly, leaving tenants lost in the process, unsure of when to speak or how to defend themselves.” 

Right to counsel programs and laws vary, but generally they focus on two goals: requiring courts to provide representation to tenants being sued in eviction court and providing funding to ensure that those tenants can secure an attorney — a particular problem for people facing legal action due to their inability to pay rent.

The city can’t force local judges to provide tenants with attorneys. But it can provide funding to a program that provides legal aid to those tenants. 

The City Council has already put aside $500,000 in the city’s current budget to pilot such a program, although Addison said no specific group has been chosen to provide legal aid services. 

“The goal of this right to counsel is to avoid courts in totality,” said Addison. “It’s not meant to punish one side or the other. … It is meant to be a tool by which we can navigate this better.” 

At last week’s committee hearing, Councilor Ellen Robertson (6th District) warned that without an increase in affordable housing, eviction rates would continue to be high. She called for the council to continue developing a comprehensive approach to housing problems. 

“In many cases, the persons that are being evicted can’t afford to pay their rent because they’re paying 50, 60, 70% of their income for rent,” she said. “And that’s not sustainable.” 

On Monday, several other council members said the resolution they passed was a small step toward addressing a bigger problem.

“We know this money is not sustainable,” City Councilor Nicole Jones (9th District) said of the funding allocated so far. “We have a long way to go and we need to be doing some real talking.”

City Councilor Stephanie Lynch (5th District) said legal assistance for tenants is all the more necessary because Virginia’s housing laws tend to favor landlords.

“That creates an environment where when folks show up to court, they have very little recourse and very little representation but for having a lawyer at their side,” Lynch said.

266-unit housing development OK’d in Swansboro neighborhood

The tradeoffs officials often face on housing and development issues were on display later in the meeting when the council considered approval of a special use permit for a 266-unit affordable housing development on a low-lying parcel of land off Semmes Avenue in the Swansboro neighborhood.

The development, which would consist of three buildings of varying heights with the tallest at five stories, is planned for nearly seven acres across from Canoe Run Park and the fire station that sits in front of it.

Several neighborhood residents spoke in opposition, saying they support affordable housing but oppose the project because it’s in an area prone to flooding. They also said the development’s residents would have limited access to Semmes and the bus routes along it because the buildings would be sitting well below the level of the road.

Other speakers, some affiliated with the pro-housing group RVA YIMBY, urged the council to approve the development. Some of the city’s housing affordability troubles, they argued, can be alleviated by building more housing.

The council voted 8-1 to approve the special use permit after the developer’s representative agreed to continue working with the city to address concerns about the project. The development team also said overcomplicating the permit itself could jeopardize project deadlines tied to financing for affordable housing.

Lynch, who represents the area where the development would be built, cast the lone no vote. She said the council should have firmer commitments about how neighbors’ concerns would be addressed before moving the permit forward.

“I would never ask you all to not hold good on your principles in supporting affordable housing,” Lynch said to her colleagues before the vote. “But we also have some very, very real concerns with this project.”