Tired of candidates discussing issues that are not really important to our day-to-day lives? What could be more important than making sure there is enough housing for everyone across income levels?  Yet the issue of  housing affordability has rarely been a key issue in electoral politics in Virginia and elsewhere in the nation. With the […]

  Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) and Central Virginia Legal Aid (CVLAS) Successfully Working Against Housing Discrimination The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing throughout the United States on the basis of disability.  One important facet of this protection against discrimination is that the Fair Housing Act can require a landlord to make […]

  Tired of candidates discussing issues that are not really important to our day-to-day lives? What could be more important than making sure there is enough housing for everyone across income levels?  Yet the issue of  housing affordability has rarely been a key issue in electoral politics in Virginia and elsewhere in the nation. With […]

  In recent years, some real estate entrepreneurs have begun marketing homes under so-called “rent-to-own” deals.  While the notion of renting-to-own can appeal to consumers as an affordable path to homeownership, in practice rent-to-own is most often a predatory scheme that saddles consumers with all the costs and burdens of home ownership (such as making […]

Inaccuracies in records and discriminatory renting practices that haunt tenants for years might be meeting their match from a joint effort In many states, including Virginia, property management firms—particularly those which operate large, multi-family rental complexes—conduct background checks on prospective tenants and will deny admission to applicants who have been previously sued for eviction.  Frequently […]