Eviction Defense Center pop-ups hosted around Richmond as pilot program

An apartment for rent. (Dan Brandenburg/Getty Images)

Richmond residents facing eviction might find walk-in hours at their local library helpful to get a refresher on their rights and tips on navigating the legal process. The Virginia Poverty Law Center (VPLC) has partnered with the Richmond Public Library to host in-person assistance hours at three locations each week.

Eviction Defense Center Drop-Ins

Mondays, 9 a.m.-noon – East End Branch

Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. – Main Branch

Thursdays, 2-4 p.m. – Broad Rock Branch

In addition to the in-person help, the Eviction Defense Center website also has resources that anyone around Virginia can access.

Tools include understanding the steps involved in an eviction , a glossary of legal terms typically used in housing cases, and explainers on the types of documents tenants may receive if they are facing an eviction.

The resources can help people understand the situation they find themselves in, and could also help tenants identify if they have a solid defense against their eviction, said VPLC lawyer Phil Storey.

Residents can double-check if their landlord has taken all the correct steps to proceed with the eviction in the first place. And if not, then the tenant can explain their case to a judge should the eviction proceed.

Sometimes, residents will be armed with enough knowledge of the process and their rights to plead their case in court, Storey said.

But when someone needs an actual lawyer to represent them, the Defense Center also has a search feature to connect people with legal aid centers around Virginia that can help.

Richmond has held the No. 2 spot for the highest eviction filing rate among major cities for nearly a decade. According to an RVA Eviction Lab report through Virginia Commonwealth University, 40% of evictions in the city last less than 60 seconds in court .

VPLC hasn’t done a lot of promotion on the walk-in events yet, but “we want to get it out there for folks to be able to use,” Storey said.

The program could be scalable and a long-term goal is to see about setting it up in other Virginia localities that have high eviction rates. Storey expects his organization will more heavily promote the website and pop-up events in the months ahead and will have coordinated with local libraries in other areas about partnerships by then as well.

“We also provided a manual for librarians to be able to help people use this tool as well,” Storey said.

The city of Richmond is also expected to spearhead a right-to-counsel pilot program next year. With $500,000 earmarked in the latest city budget, the program is not yet off the ground.

Meanwhile, some state lawmakers have hoped to help find ways to resolve things without needing to go to court. Del. Cia Price, D-Newport News, carried legislation to extend a waiting period for landlords to serve eviction notices from five to 14 days.

In current law, tenants usually have five days to respond to their notice — putting them at about 10 days after missed payments before the next phase of the eviction process may occur.

Price’s bill passed Virginia’s legislature this year before it was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

At the time, Youngkin said he considered the bill “unnecessary” because current law allows tenants a right to pay amounts due before a court date.

But Annika Schunn, a paralegal with VPLC explained that delaying eviction proceedings under Price’s two-week proposal could help prevent a court process altogether in some cases. This is because 43% of employers pay every two weeks , according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Since VPLC launched their drop-in times at public libraries this summer, more tenants have dropped by earlier in the month, closer to when they’d have received their eviction notices, Schunn said.

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