Major Richmond apartment operator hit with multistate fair housing complaint
The nation’s largest apartment operator, which manages more than a dozen properties in the metro Richmond area, is facing allegations that it has repeatedly refused to accept housing choice vouchers — often called Section 8 vouchers — in violation of Virginia and other state laws.
On Tuesday, the Housing Rights Initiative, a nonprofit watchdog group, announced it had filed administrative civil rights complaints against Greystar in seven states over 114 violations of fair housing laws that it alleges occurred between October 2025 and July 1 of this year.
“Greystar has been committing mass civil rights violations at a scale unlike anything our organization has ever seen,” said Aaron Carr, founder and executive director of the group, in a release. “We have never encountered a landlord that operates with such brazen contempt and hostility toward the rule of law as Greystar.”
Asked about the allegations, a spokesperson for Greystar said that the company “remains committed to fair housing practices in everything we do. Greystar provides training and expects our team members to comply with all applicable laws.”
Because the Virginia complaint is administrative, it is not publicly available, although information and recordings shared by the housing rights group outline the details of all 114 allegations.
Virginia law makes it illegal for any landlord who owns more than four rental units in Virginia to refuse to rent to someone based on their “source of funds” — a prohibition that means landlords cannot turn down a tenant solely because they are using a housing voucher.
Despite that, the Housing Rights Initiative claims that Greystar representatives routinely told testers the organization deployed that they did not accept vouchers or that voucher holders would have to meet certain unlawful criteria.
Fourteen of the alleged violations are linked to five Virginia properties in Arlington and Fairfax counties and the city of Fredericksburg.
While none of the complaints concern properties in Richmond, Greystar controls numerous buildings in and around the city, including complexes in Scott’s Addition, Manchester and Shockoe Bottom.
In Richmond, housing choice vouchers are administered by the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Last year, the authority oversaw more than 4,400 housing choice vouchers, with thousands of other families on waitlists.
But even with Virginia law prohibiting discrimination, getting landlords to accept the vouchers has been a challenge. RRHA CEO Steven Nesmith has said many continue to refuse voucher holders, and a 2020 analysis cited “landlord refusal to accept housing choice vouchers” as one of the impediments to fair housing choice in the region.
“I am aware of the serious issues across the country of some landlords refusing to accept HUD Housing Choice Vouchers,” Nesmith told The Richmonder on Tuesday. “At RRHA, because we recognize there can be reluctance by landlords, we have ‘leaned in’ hard and been proactive.”
Besides hosting “meet and greet” sessions to connect voucher holders with landlords, the housing authority also offers $500 incentives for landlords who agree to accept voucher holders and $250 incentives to residents to assist with application fees.
Nesmith said the strategies have led to voucher holders in Richmond being able to find housing “95% of the time.”
Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org
