City Hall in Richmond, Va. (Parker Michels-Boyce for The Virginia Mercury)
Typically a very local issue, presidential candidates are discussing housing policy this year and Virginia’s state legislature continues to play a role in addressing related issues . The state’s capital city, Richmond, has a mayoral election in November that could shape housing policy for at least the next four years.
Last year council passed a resolution to declare that the city had a housing crisis . Efforts to help will be paramount for the city’s legislative body and next mayor because Richmond’s eviction rate is second highest in the nation, the amount of people experiencing homelessness is on the rise , and the city has not been immune to national struggles for people to afford purchasing homes .
Richmond’s five candidates for mayor — Andreas Addison, Danny Avula, Michelle Mosby, Maurice Neblett and Harrison Roday — share their ideas on this front, including dedicating more money to existing land trust funds, supporting updated zoning that will foster the development of more housing and diversify housing types, and furthering existing eviction diversion programs.