Communities across the Commonwealth of Virginia face high rates of eviction that can lead to neighborhood instability. At the same time, the state faces a shortage of affordable housing and high rates of cost burden, and extreme cost burden. Families experiencing high-cost burdens have little room for error in their monthly budgets, meaning that one bad day can translate into an eviction that causes significant housing instability, including multiple moves or homelessness.

Across Virginia, almost half of all renter households are housing cost-burdened, meaning that they pay more than 30% of their incomes for housing. These numbers become more extreme when broken down by income. Extremely Low Income Households (ELI), or those earning less than 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI) have the highest cost burden at 87% statewide, followed by Very Low Income (VLI) Households, or those earning between 30% and 50% of AMI at 80%. Meanwhile, statewide, 72% of ELI renter households face an extreme cost burden, meaning that they pay more than 50% of their incomes for housing.