Affordable Housing

"First as tragedy, then as farce." It’s a familiar phrase for a story that, at this point, is all too familiar. Affordable housing is once again under attack, this time by a federal scheme that threatens to turn poor neighborhoods into mini-tax havens for the wealthy. They’re called Opportunity Zones – specially designated census tracts meant to encourage real estate investment in poor areas by offering tax breaks for investors.

Dark Money is Flooding Norfolk apartments. Secret shell companies, undisclosed buyers, dark money. These terms have come to define the housing reality in Norfolk. Published in partnership with Norfolk Currents.

Across Hampton Roads anonymous private equity firms are pouring billions of dollars into buying up apartment buildings. They're renovating units, inflating rental rates, and evicting poor and working-class residents—all in a bid to generate maximum profit for their secret cohort of wealthy investors.

Over the past few years hundreds of millions of dollars have poured into single and multifamily homes across Hampton Roads by private-equity firms who renovate the properties, aggressively raise rents, and evict long-time residents. It’s happening in New York, it’s happening in Los Angeles, and it’s happening in Hampton Roads. And we can’t afford to live here anymore.

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