Our Research
HOME has long been a source of credible housing-related research in the commonwealth. We build partnerships with local and state government, organizations, and with legislative officials to spark meaningful conversations about housing issues, educate the public and raise awareness, and advocate for systemic change in our communities.
HOME’s approach to housing research and policy is unique because we are able to gather information externally and internally. Our research team studies trends that emerge from our fair housing complaints and investigations, from our housing counseling clients, and from industry and local data sources. This research often serves as the catalyst for change in the housing systems that drive economic, educational, and social opportunities. The data we gather helps us take a strategic approach to addressing key housing issues.
Published Reports:
Can We Learn and Live Together?
October 2024
The study, “Can We Live and Learn Together 2.0,” updates a similar one from 2017. Seven years later, we’re revealing new data on housing and school segregation in the Richmond region – with a bottom line that should give us all pause: “segregation is an outcome and a cycle resulting from pernicious policies at the local, state, and federal level that need to be either changed or overturned.” In other words, segregation isn’t natural or inevitable. It’s a failure of policy. And that means we can change it. A collaboration between Virginia Commonwealth University, HOME, Partnership for Housing Affordability, The Commonwealth Institute, and the University of Richmond.
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Racial Disparities in Neighborhood Home Values
May 2024
This report examines inequalities in home values as they relate to neighborhoods’ racial demographics in the City of Richmond, and discusses the challenges of increasing home values in under-valued neighborhoods, namely the risk of displacement for existing residents.
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Single-Family Housing Market Assessment
October 2019
An Equity Analysis of Wealth Building Disparities in the City of Richmond, Virginia. This report stems from an analysis of mortgage lending trends in the city that HOME conducted in 2015 and expanded upon under contract in 2019.
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Choice Constrained
May 2019
Limited Housing Options for Households Utilizing Housing Choice Vouchers. This report provides an update to research on voucher utilization in the Richmond metro region.
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Moving to Opportunity
October 2018
Evaluation of HOME’s Move to Opportunity Program. In early 2018, HOME administered a survey to better understand the impact its mobility counseling program has on families with children.
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Confronting School and Housing Segregation in the Richmond Region
September 2017
Can we learn and live together? This report looks at how segregated housing patterns limit access to financial resources, entrench poverty, concentrate environmental hazards, and create poorer health and educational outcomes. A collaboration between Virginia Commonwealth University, HOME, and the University of Richmond.
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Excluded Communities
November 2015
A Spatial Analysis of Segregation in the Richmond Region. This report examines the changing nature of segregation in the metro-Richmond area, which is now far more multiracial than it was in the past. It offers an understanding of the growing diversity and deepening double segregation by race and poverty in schools.
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Mortgage Lending in the City of Richmond
November 2015
An Analysis of the City’s Lending Patterns. This report stemmed from an analysis of subprime lending patterns in the City of Richmond during the years leading up to the housing crisis. HOME conducted this analysis of the city’s largest lending institutions to better understand the mortgage outcomes of homebuyers throughout the city.
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A Study of Housing Discrimination Against Same Sex Couples in Virginia
January 2015
Over the course of 2014, HOME tested housing providers in the Richmond, Virginia region (the city of Richmond, Henrico County, and Chesterfield County) to determine the extent to which LGBT homeseekers experience discrimination.
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Mapping Inequality in Richmond
April 2013
Mapping Inequality in Richmond is a series of maps that examine the historical connection between state and federal housing policies and the long-lasting effects of these policies on concentrations of growth and poverty, lending patterns, homeownership and educational outcomes for children.
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Where You Live Makes All the Difference: An Opportunity Map of the Richmond Region
December 2012
The Richmond Region Opportunity Map underscores the important role that housing plays in accessing opportunity. Opportunity mapping is a technique used to demonstrate the impact that housing choice has on a person’s ability to access all of the resources that comprise opportunity.
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2013-2015 – City of Richmond Analysis of Impediments
2012 – The Impact of Foreclosures on Economic Recovery in Virginia
2011 – Virginia’s Neighborhoods and the American Jobs Act
2011 – Virginia’s Foreclosure Trends
2011 – Lynchburg Housing Assessment
2000-2009 – Fair Housing Trends in Virginia
2008 – Hampton Roads Audit Results
2006 – Richmond: Impediments to Fair Housing
2002 – African-Americans and People with Disabilities in Hampton Roads Rental Market
