Subcommittee backs making eviction-diversion courts permanent and optional statewide

The General Laws Housing and Consumer Protection Subcommittee voted 8-0 to recommend reporting House Bill 1623 after adopting a line amendment that makes participation permissive for general district courts.

Sponsor Delegate Delia McClure said HB 1623 "expands and makes permanent the eviction diversion court program within the general district court to make the program available to any locality who wishes to participate." She told members several localities had expressed interest in implementing the program.

A staff-drafted line amendment changed the bill’s operative language to use "may," so any general district court would be able to implement the eviction-diversion program but would not be required to do so. The clerk read the amendment language into the record as inserting "the program may be implemented by any general district court of the Commonwealth."

Elizabeth Pollan of the Virginia Housing Commission, described the original pilot – created by the Commission in July 2020 – as effective at preventing evictions among program participants, noting an 85% success rate among those who used it. She said forms and training are already integrated with the court system and that the Housing Commission unanimously endorsed making it permanent.

The sponsor said the program has had no fiscal impact on the court system and that necessary forms and training already exist. The subcommittee moved to report the bill as amended; the clerk recorded an 8-0 recommendation to report.

The amendment preserved local discretion: courts that wish to implement eviction diversion may do so; courts that do not wish to participate are not required to adopt the program.