by Kimberly Nario

After a particularly nasty breakup several years ago, I found myself in need of a place to call my own–or at least a place to rent on my own. I remembered an apartment building I lived in years prior with one of my best friends. Perhaps it was sentimentality or desperation, but on a whim, I reached out to the rental company and let them know that if anything were to open up in the building, I’d love to live there again. In a stroke of luck, someone had just put in their notice, and we set a date for me to view the apartment. 

Suddenly, I was whisked out of my heartbreak: amazing location, stunning natural lighting, and even some utilities included. This was around 2018, and for this one-bedroom, one bathroom apartment with separate living and dining rooms in downtown Richmond, the rent was less than $800. 

“What’s the catch? Why is this apartment so affordable?”  I asked the leasing agent. 

“The owner says he doesn’t need to make more money off of it,” he answered.

Seems like a fantasy, but that was my pre-pandemic reality. And now many people across the Commonwealth are experiencing the exact opposite–renting from greedy landlords and rental companies who hike up rents on places filled with mold and in need of dire repairs. Sometimes these increases happen with so little warning that renters don’t have enough time to plan, pushing them to fall behind on rent. Imagine living paycheck to paycheck and then finding out that in a matter of weeks, that paycheck has to stretch even further. It’s untenable.

During the last legislative session, Virginia was short 200,000 affordable housing units. Richmonders struggle to pay rent more than people living in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. How does that make sense? I’ll tell you–it doesn’t, and it never will. So tell your legislators to support anti-rent gouging legislation, and when November 2025 rolls around, vote for candidates who understand that housing is a fundamental human right!