Prepared by the Virginia Legal Aid Society, May 2019[1]
Introduction
The purpose of this report is to evaluate and respond to data regarding residential evictions in Lynchburg, Virginia and surrounding counties. Evictions cause severe, long-term consequences for low-income families, and Lynchburg is a national leader among mid-sized cities in its number and rate of evictions. Virginia Legal Aid Society calls in this report for the convening of all interested and affected parties to seek greater stability for low-income families through reduction in the number and rate of evictions.
This report begins by describing the data used and the methods of analysis. It discusses trends identified in the data and, to the extent possible, makes comparisons to Eviction Lab data.[2] The data published by the Eviction Lab does not contain information regarding evictions in Lynchburg, Virginia.[3] Thus this report assists in determining how Lynchburg’s eviction rates compare to cities included in the Eviction Lab city rankings.[4] The report concludes by examining the impact of evictions on low-income individuals and families, and calls for community action in response.
Lynchburg’s High Rate of Evictions
When compared to the number of evictions in other Mid-Size Cities[5], Lynchburg, with 1,207 evictions, had the 10th highest absolute number of evictions in Mid-Size Cities across the country in 2016.[6] Lynchburg had an eviction rate of 8.62%, which was the 29th highest eviction rate in Mid-Size Cities across the across the country in 2016.[7] Lynchburg had the 7th highest eviction rate compared to Large Cities across the country. [8]
Lynchburg had the 4th highest number of evictions in Mid-Size Cities in Virginia and 7th highest among Large Cities in Virginia.[9] Lynchburg had 5th highest eviction rate in Mid-Size Cities in Virginia and the 5th highest eviction rate compared to Large Cities.[10]
Fig. 6
Neither the data used for this report nor the Eviction Lab rankings include evictions that took place without court action. As a result, these totals and rankings do not include illegal self-help evictions or situations where tenants move out after receiving notices from their landlords. Thus, the number of actual evictions is higher than is captured in this data.
The Data:[11]
The Office of the Executive Secretary within the Virginia judicial system provided the data used for this report to the Virginia Poverty Law Center, which then shared the data with Virginia Legal Aid Society. The data consists of the information entered into the General District Court Online Case Information System by the clerks of the general district courts. The data was formatted as a report which lists Unlawful Detainer (eviction) actions filed in Lynchburg General District Court from 2008 to 2017. For each case, the report lists the date of filing, the last hearing date, the addresses of the plaintiffs and defendants, and the case disposition. The report assigns specific disposition codes to the cases. Those codes are Judgment for Plaintiff, Judgement for Defendant, Dismissed, or Non-Suit.
Limitations of the Data:
In an effort to make meaningful comparisons to the data published by the Eviction Lab, the research methodology of Eviction Lab was reviewed to identify differences and limitations in the data used in this report.
The data used for this report does not identify whether a Judgment for Plaintiff specifically included a judgment for possession. Thus, an assumption was made that every Judgement for Plaintiff included a judgment for possession. This same definition of eviction and the same assumption was made by the Eviction Lab in classifying case outcomes in their data.[12]
Another limitation of the data concerns the disposition of a case marked as Dismissed. There are several reasons a case may be marked as Dismissed, but the data does not provide any additional information about the specific reason for the dismissal. Thus, it is possible that cases which are marked Dismissed were dismissed at different stages and for different reasons.
A case may have been marked Dismissed because the parties reached an agreement out of court. A case may also have been marked Dismissed because the case was dismissed by the judge after hearing evidence. The latter example could also be properly categorized as a Judgment for Defendant. Thus, the actual number of judgments rendered in favor of defendants may be higher than the number of cases with a Judgment for Defendant disposition would lead one to believe.
Finally, the report does not contain information indicating whether the defendant and/or plaintiff were represented by an attorney. Thus, there was no way to analyze whether this factor affected the outcomes of cases.
Trends in the data:
For Lynchburg, the total number of eviction cases has been fairly consistent over the date range in the report. The total number of eviction cases each year ranged from a low of 1,965 in 2017 to a high of 2,332 in 2013.[13] The largest number of cases in 2013 was followed by a small but consistent decline in subsequent years.[14] Figure 7 shows the total eviction cases in Lynchburg and the number of cases resulting in each specific disposition from 2008 to 2017.[15]
The number of cases disposed of as Judgment for Plaintiff consistently exceeded the number of Judgments for Defendant by a large margin each year. For example, in 2017 1,167 out of the 1,965 cases resulted in Judgment for Plaintiff while only 3 of those cases were resulted in Judgment for Defendant.[16] This trend is consistent in each year of the date range. The highest number of Judgments for Defendant in any one year was 10 in 2010.[17]
The second most common disposition after Judgment for Plaintiff was “Dismissed.” The number of Dismissed case dispositions was fairly consistent in the date range. The highest number occurred in 2013 (696) and the lowest occurred in 2010 (453).[18] As discussed in the Limitations in the Data section, supra, cases with this disposition could include cases that could more properly be categorized as Judgment for Defendant because they resulted from dismissal of the case by the judge after hearing evidence. However, the data does not provide a means of identifying such instances.
Comparison of Lynchburg to surrounding counties:
Out of these four other surrounding counties in the Virginia Legal Aid service area, Lynchburg has the most evictions by a large margin. Figure 8 shows the total number of evictions in Lynchburg and the surrounding counties in 2016. [19]
Figure 9 below shows the number of eviction cases in each area from 2008 to 2017 to illustrate the large gap between Lynchburg and the surrounding counties. This gap may be accounted for when the population of each area is observed as Lynchburg has a much larger population than the others. Figure 10 shows the populations of each area from 2008 to 2017.[20] Figure 11 shows the 2016 eviction rate of Lynchburg and the surrounding counties. [21]
In each of the counties, Judgments for Plaintiff far outpaced any other case dispositions. In 2017, no cases in the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Campbell, and Halifax resulted in Judgements for Defendant[22]
Comparison of Lynchburg to Richmond, Virginia and Eviction Lab Rankings:
Richmond, Virginia had the second highest eviction rate of any city in the nation in 2016 according to Eviction Lab.[23] Richmond is reported as having 6,345 evictions in 2016 which is 17.38 evictions per day.[24] Based on the methodology described in the Limitations of the Data section, supra, Lynchburg had a total of 1,207 evictions in 2016 which equates to an average of 3.3 evictions per day.
Eviction Lab ranked cities based on two metrics. Cities were ranked by the total number of evictions, and by the cities’ eviction rate. To calculate eviction rates, Eviction Lab divided the number of evictions within a jurisdiction by the number of renter occupied households in that jurisdiction, according to U.S. Census data.[25] The eviction rate for Richmond in 2016 was 11.44%.[26] Applying that same methodology to the data available for Lynchburg, the eviction rate for Lynchburg in 2016 was 8.62%.[27]
The Eviction Lab organized cities into three categories: Large Cities, Mid-Size Cities, and Small Cities/Rural Areas.[28] Large Cities are defined as cities with populations of 100,000 and above.[29] The Lab has ranked 313 of them.[30] Mid-Size Cities are defined as cities with populations between 20,000 and 100,000.[31] The Lab has ranked 1,858 Mid-Size Cities.[32] The last category, Small Cities/Rural Areas, is for jurisdictions with populations under 20,000 and the Lab has ranked 27,403 places that fit this criteria[33]. With a population of 80,995, Lynchburg is a Mid-Size City under these definitions.[34] When compared to other Mid-Size Cities Lynchburg had the 10th highest number of evictions in Mid-Size Cities across the country in 2016 (above Reading, PA and below Canton, OH).[35] Lynchburg had the 29th highest eviction rate in Mid-Size Cities across the across the country in 2016 (above Wilson, NC and below Suffolk, VA).[36] Lynchburg had the 7th highest eviction rate compared to Large Cities across the country (above Greensboro, NC and below Norfolk, VA). [37]
When narrowing the focus to just Virginia cities, Lynchburg had the 4th highest number of evictions in Mid-Size Cities in Virginia (above Suffolk and below Petersburg) and 7th highest number of evictions compared to in Large Cities (above Arlington and below Chesapeake).[38] With the 8.62% eviction rate, Lynchburg had the 5th highest eviction rate in Mid-Size Cities in Virginia (above Chester and below Suffolk) and the 5th highest eviction rate compared to Large Cities (above Chesapeake and below Norfolk). [39]
Impact
This report permits comparison of eviction rates and totals in Lynchburg, Virginia to eviction rates and totals other cities in the Commonwealth and across the country. Eviction Lab identified five Virginia cities in its national ranking of cities with the highest rates of eviction in 2016.[40] When Lynchburg is compared to these and other cities across the country, it is clear that Lynchburg is deeply affected by evictions. Lynchburg’s rate of eviction is the 5th highest in the Commonwealth and Lynchburg ranks 10th in total number of evictions in Mid-Size cities across the United States.
Lynchburg’s eviction problem means high housing instability. Housing stability refers to an individual’s ability to choose how long to live in their home, without being forced to move. Access to consistent, stable, and affordable housing is key to individuals’ financial well-being.[41]
Housing instability negatively impacts individual people and families as well as the community as a whole.[42] It contributes to issues such as the housing cost-burden, homelessness, hypermobility, and overcrowding.[43] It has a detrimental effect on the physical health and financial wellbeing of individuals and their families, which in turn puts additional strain on government and health services such as the school system, Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Services to assist these populations. [44]
Beyond the effects on individuals and public services, evictions are disruptive to landlords who incur losses of income and are required to find new tenants to rent a property following eviction. Housing instability negatively impact the availability of dependable and healthy employees for employers in the area.[45] Housing instability reduces the amount of money in the local economy being used to purchase goods and services from businesses.[46]
Solutions
Multiple factors contribute to Lynchburg’s eviction problem. Many of the factors cited as contributing to Richmond’s eviction problem also describe Lynchburg; “[i]t’s in the Southeast, where the poverty rate are high and the minimum wage is low; it’s in Virginia, which lacks some tenant rights available in other states, and it’s a city where many poor African-Americans live in low-quality housing with limited means of escaping it.”[47] Additionally, historical practices such as redlining of specific Lynchburg neighborhoods on the basis of race and uneven investment in those same neighborhoods have contributed to the lack of housing stability in specific areas of the City.[48] As such, solving the eviction problem in Lynchburg requires the participation and accountability of multiple groups within the City and across the Commonwealth, including tenants, service providers, landlords, courts, businesses, non-profits, faith-based organizations, community leaders, and lawmakers, and Virginia Legal Aid Society calls for the convening of all interested and affected parties to seek greater stability for low-income families through reduction in the number and rate of evictions.
[1] Prepared by Paul T. Robertson, Esq., Staff Attorney for Virginia Legal Aid Society (“VLAS”) in Lynchburg, Virginia. VLAS would like to thank Hanna McWilliams for the work she contributed to this report. Ms. McWilliams is a 2019 graduate of the University of Lynchburg and will begin pursuing her Master of Social Work at the University of Maryland in the Fall of 2019.
[2] The Eviction Lab is a research group at Princeton University that has published a nationwide dataset of evictions, going back to the year 2000. The New York Times published an article in April 2018 highlighting that of the ten cities with the highest evictions rates nationwide in 2016 according to Eviction Lab data, five were Virginia cities. “In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America.” New York Times. Accessed May 9, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/07/upshot/millions-of-eviction-records-a-sweeping-new-look-at-housing-in-america.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=F9A62E3B5C2DEF473D2DBEFFD705478A&gwt=pay.
[3] “Eviction Map & Data.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016?geography=counties&bounds=-81.643,35.902,-77.195,38.464&locations=51,-78.926,37.435%2B51680,-79.177,37.401.
[4] In creating this report, Virginia Legal Aid Society used state court eviction data it obtained from the Virginia Poverty Law Center. The Virginia Poverty Law Center requested and obtained the data from the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia. The data is organized in several spreadsheet reports listing eviction cases and their outcomes in Virginia’s general district courts from 2008 through 2017. The data used to populate the spreadsheets was entered by the clerk of each general district court into the General District Court Online Case Information System. Several pieces of information are listed for each case, including the court that heard the case, the date, and the disposition of the case. The format and information contained in the data are explained in additional detail in the Data section of this report, infra.
[5] Eviction Lab separates cities into separate categories based on population size for conducting is analysis. Large Cities are defined as cities with populations of 100,000 and above, Mid-Size Cities are defined as cities with populations between 20,000 and 100,000, and Small Cities/Rural Areas include jurisdictions with populations under 20,000. The categories are discussed in detail in the section Comparison of Lynchburg to Richmond, Virginia and Eviction Lab Rankings, infra p.14. Although Lynchburg is a Mid-Size City under Eviction Lab’s system of categorization, this report includes not only comparisons between Lynchburg and other Mid-Size Cities, but also between Lynchburg and cities categorized as Large Cities by Eviction Lab. This was done because Lynchburg is much closer in population to the Eviction Lab’s definition of a Large City than it is to cities at the bottom end of the population range for Mid-Size Cities. The impact of Lynchburg’s larger population relative to other Mid-Size Cities is illustrated when Lynchburg is compared to the 28 other Mid-Size Cities that have higher eviction rates than Lynchburg. Of those cities, only two, Petersburg, Virginia and Suffolk, Virginia, have higher populations than Lynchburg. The majority of the remaining 26 cities have populations less than half the size of Lynchburg.
[6] Report of Unlawful Detainers in 2008-2017 provided by Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia (accessed June 11, 2018) (on file with Virginia Poverty Law Center); “Top Evicting Mid-Size Cities in the United States: By Evictions.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=1&d=evictions. (providing number of evictions in other Mid-Sized Cities).
[7] Report of Unlawful Detainers in 2008-2017 provided by Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia (accessed June 11, 2018) (on file with Virginia Poverty Law Center); “Selected Housing Characteristics.” United States Census Bureau. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF.; “Top Evicting Mid-Size Cities in the United States: Eviction Rate.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=1&d=evictionRate. (providing rate of evictions in other Mid-Sized Cities).
[8] “Top Evicting Large Cities in the United States: Eviction Rate.” Eviction Lab, Accessed May 13, 2019. https://www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=0&d=evictionRate. (providing rate of evictions in other Mid-Sized Cities).
[9] “Top Evicting Cities in VA: By Evictions.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=Virginia&a=1&d=evictions.
[10] “Top Evicting Cities in VA: Eviction Rate.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=Virginia&a=1&d=evictionRate.
[11] Report of Unlawful Detainers in 2008-2017 provided by Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia (accessed June 11, 2018) (on file with Virginia Poverty Law Center).
[12] “Methodology Report, Section IV.1. Classifying Eviction.” Eviction Lab, V.1.1.0 (5/7/8). Accessed May 16, 2019. https://evictionlab.org/docs/Eviction%20Lab%20Methodology%20Report.pdf.
[13] Report of Unlawful Detainers in 2008-2017 provided by Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia (accessed June 11, 2018) (on file with Virginia Poverty Law Center).
[14] Ibid.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Report of Unlawful Detainers in 2008-2017 provided by Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia (accessed June 11, 2018) (on file with Virginia Poverty Law Center); “Eviction Map & Data.” Eviction Lab. Accessed May 13, 2019. https://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016?geography=counties&bounds=-81.643,35.902,-77.195,38.464&locations=51009,-79.146,37.606%2B51011,-78.812,37.372.
[20] “Populations of Counties in VA.” World Population Review, http://www.worldpopulationreview.com/us-counties/va/. Accessed April 30, 2019.
[21] “Eviction Map & Data.” Eviction Lab. Accessed May 13, 2019. https://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016?geography=counties&bounds=-81.643,35.902,-77.195,38.464&locations=51009,-79.146,37.606%2B51011,-78.812,37.372.
[22] “Eviction Map & Data.” Eviction Lab. Accessed May 13, 2019. https://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016?geography=counties&bounds=-81.643,35.902,-77.195,38.464&locations=51009,-79.146,37.606%2B51011,-78.812,37.372.
[23] “Top Evicting Large Cities in the United States.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=0&d=evictionRate&l=1.
[24] “Top Evicting Large Cities in the United States.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=0&d=evictionRate&l=1.
[25] “Methods.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. https://www.evictionlab.org/methods/#what-data.
[26] Ibid.
[27] “Eviction Map & Data.” Eviction Lab. Accessed May 13, 2019. https://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016?geography=counties&bounds=-81.643,35.902,-77.195,38.464&locations=51009,-79.146,37.606%2B51011,-78.812,37.372; “Selected Housing Characteristics.” United States Census Bureau. Accessed April 30, 2019. www.factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF.
[28] “Help & FAQ.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. www.evictionlab.org/help-faq/#area-types.
[29] Ibid.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Ibid.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Ibid.
[34] “Lynchburg, VA Population.” World Population Review. Accessed April 30, 2019. www.worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/lynchburg-va-population/.
[35] “Top Evicting Mid-Size Cities in the United States: By Evictions.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019 www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=1&d=evictions; Figure 1, supra.
[36] “Top Evicting Mid-Size Cities in the United States: Eviction Rate.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=1&d=evictionRate.
[37] “Top Evicting Large Cities in the United States: Eviction Rate.” Eviction Lab. Accessed May 13, 2019. https://evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=United%20States&a=0&d=evictionRate.
[38] “Top Evicting Cities in VA: By Evictions.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=Virginia&a=1&d=evictions; Figures 3 and 4, supra.
[39] “Top Evicting Cities in VA: Eviction Rate.” Eviction Lab. Accessed April 30, 2019. www.evictionlab.org/rankings/#/evictions?r=Virginia&a=1&d=evictionRate; Figures 5 and 6, supra.
[40] “In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America.” New York Times. Accessed May 9, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/07/upshot/millions-of-eviction-records-a-sweeping-new-look-at-housing-in-america.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=F9A62E3B5C2DEF473D2DBEFFD705478A&gwt=pay.
[41] Lynchburg Regional Housing Collaborative. “Housing Stability and the Impacts of Affordable Housing in Lynchburg, VA” (presentation, meeting of Lynchburg City Council, January 8, 2019).
[42] Ibid.
[43] Ibid.
[44] Ibid.
[45] Ibid.
[46] Ibid.
[47] “In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America.” New York Times. Accessed May 9, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/07/upshot/millions-of-eviction-records-a-sweeping-new-look-at-housing-in-america.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=F9A62E3B5C2DEF473D2DBEFFD705478A&gwt=pay.
[48] “Housing Stability and the Impacts of Affordable Housing in Lynchburg, VA.” Lynchburg Regional Housing Collaborative. Presented at the meeting of Lynchburg City Council (Jan. 8, 2019); “Abell: Redlining in Lynchburg: Practices of 81 years ago echo through the years.” The News and Advance. Accessed May 16, 2019. https://www.newsadvance.com/opinion/abell-redlining-in-lynchburg/article_bc2ea4cc-39d5-11e8-90ca-4ba0918415f4.html.
