So here's a thread on how to combat eviction with a focus on community organizing. I wrote this #plan for a community group in #Richmond, but I believe it is applicable to other cities facing high rates of displacement.
Here's the link to the plan: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/murp_capstone/28/
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WHAT WE KNOW: 1) It affects rent- burdened tenants particularly Black women with children. 2) The consequences of eviction is life-altering. Once you have an eviction on your history, it is harder to get housing even years after the event. 3) We know where high rates of [2/x]

evictions are happening. They are primarily in Black neighborhoods. Race is more predictive of eviction rates than income. Here is a map of eviction rates in Richmond which devastatingly mirror the redlining map of the city. [3/x]

4) Data analysis makes stronger case for larger public investment in affordable housing development. When there is a public subsidy or land convenant that preserves affordable housing long term, there are fewer evictions. 5) We know that the current market doesn't serve [4/x]

low-income folks and it is up to gov't intervention to ensure there is truly affordable housing for these communities. [5/x]

WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS: 1) Ensure that your city has an adequately funded affordable housing trust fund. This fund should help finance any affordable housing development or preservation. This can be funded from the city's general fund, % of revenue from deed [6/x]

recordation and transfer taxes, and housing bonds from state/local housing authorities. 2) Push for eviction diversion program in your city that can be funded from CDBG and HOME $. Eligibility of program should be broad enough to include any resident facing eviction. [7/x]

3) Push decisionmakers to adopt inclusionary zoning to ensure affordable housing is part of any new residential development. 4) Push for city-owned land and tax delinquent properties to be donated to a community land trust. The land trust can lease the land to [8/x]

to preserve long term affordability where homeowner/tenant pay lower housing costs. Cost of land is huge part of housing costs. 5) Build support for city to establish emergency rent assistance with dedicated yearly budget. 6) Advocate for the creation of rental housing [9/x]

registry that includes info on ownership, amount for rent, quality, and tenant complaints. 7) Advocate circuit court to release eviction data on monthly basis on landlord, cause of eviction, and rent owed. There's little data transparency for local eviction data. [10/x]

8) Advocate for establishment of tenant center that serves as one-stop shop for housing programs.9) It is imperative to work w/ existing orgs who do anti-racism work & orgs advocating for a living wage & expansion of healthcare, public transit, & childcare [11/x]

Remember there are great orgs and people already doing the work in your communities. These efforts will require coalition building that prioritizes and listens to impacted communities. [12/x]

There are some awesome folks that are doing great research in this area:
@RVAEvictionLab
@evictionlab
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