> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.richmonder.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Richmonder 25: Regina Chaney fights for fairness in housing - URL: https://www.richmonder.org/the-richmonder-25-regina-chaney-fights-for-fairness-in-housing/ - Published: 2026-08-27T20:11:39.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-27T20:11:39.000Z - Description: For 42 years, Regina Chaney has lived and breathed housing advocacy in Virginia. - Author: Heciel Nieves Bonilla - Tags: The Richmonder 25, #the-bridge [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/04/richmonder-25-header.jpg)](https://www.richmonder.org/the-richmonder-25-meet-the-2026-honorees/) **New profiles will be posted each Monday, Wednesday and Friday in* [**The Richmonder's newsletter*](https://www.richmonder.org/sign-up-for-the-richmonders-free-newsletter/)**. Meet all the honorees* [**here*](https://www.richmonder.org/the-richmonder-25-meet-the-2026-honorees/)**.* For 42 years, Regina Chaney has lived and breathed housing advocacy in Virginia. When she [retired](https://homeofva.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025%20ANNUAL%20IMPACT%20REPORT.pdf) from Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia last October, she was the organization's longest-tenured employee. Her goal through the decades remained the same: to provide information about legal options, housing rights and more to families in her community and the state. At HOME of VA, Chaney educated hundreds of families on how to obtain and maintain homes and administered government aid programs. She continues to speak to groups when invited — especially about the housing discrimination rights she said many do not know they have. "I'll come to your organization, I'll come to your house, I'll come to your church, invite me to the barbecue, I'll talk about it then," Chaney said. "If I could help somebody understand what their rights are, I'm gonna be there." ### **From redlining to restitution** With good credit and a full-time job at a local bank, Chaney thought she had everything she needed to fix up her new home in Church Hill. She was unaware that banks in the area were unfairly working against her based on where she lived. Beginning in the 1930s it was common practice for banks to deny loans and other financial services to Black buyers and homeowners and single out Black neighborhoods as "high risk." This practice, known as redlining, was prevalent both in [Richmond](https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5150&context=etd) and [across the country](https://ncrc.org/redlining-score/). After being denied a loan a mere sixth of her home's value, Chaney learned about redlining tactics from a meeting at a local organization, Richmond United Neighborhoods, at the suggestion of her grandmother. "Everything that they talked about that happens when communities are redlined, and what people are told, had been told to me," Chaney said. "And I thought, 'Excuse me, but this is happening to me right now.'" In 1983, Richmond's First & Merchants Bank completed a merger with Virginia National to form Sovran, a precursor to Bank of America. Chaney and RUN used a recently enacted federal law, the [Community Reinvestment Act](https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/cra%5Fabout.htm), to intervene and ensure the merger resulted in funding for a [counseling program](https://www.hudexchange.info/faqs/3075/what-is-homeownership-counseling/) for first-time homebuyers. Theirs was the first such CRA challenge in the South. "We're talking about six or seven of us at the table, okay — who had no 'Dr.' behind our name — but that was the power of the CRA," Chaney said. "When I knew what was happening to me and I understood why I also thought, 'I know it's not just me, it's probably all kinds of people in my neighborhood that this is happening to.'" The ensuing program was initially funded for 18 months by a consortium of 13 financial institutions. Chaney applied to work for it, and has worked in housing ever since. 🥳 Join us for an event celebrating the honorees on Friday, Sept. 25\. [****Learn more here**](https://www.richmonder.org/the-richmonder-25-event-and-ticket-info/) – Richmonder donors can save $30 on their ticket, or purchase a table and invite your friends! ### **Chaney makes her mark with HOME** In 1987, Chaney moved the program to HOME, which has continued to operate free one-on-one counseling for buying homes and classes on credit recovery and other subjects. However, Chaney herself went on to have many other roles at HOME. She was the longtime director of its housing program, writing its first grant for down payment assistance on buying homes in 1991\. That program continues to this day. Chaney designed and administered programs on home repair and improvement, as well as foreclosure prevention, and spent many years in further counseling roles — helping individuals through defaults, equity conversions and renting. Chaney said she has directly counseled at least "hundreds of families" during her career. She is particularly fond of her work educating on fair housing, a category of law meant to protect from housing discrimination. "It wasn't until I really joined the Fair Housing team specifically that I realized that's where I should have been a long time ago," Chaney said. ### **On housing rights & today's challenges** Federal fair housing law is meant to include protection from discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability, per the [Department of Justice](https://www.justice.gov/crt/fair-housing-act-1). "Most people don't know what their fair housing rights are — they don't, and people with disabilities are the hardest hit," Chaney said. "Any organization like DOJ, even with HUD, any case when they look at fair housing complaints, disability complaints are always (at) the top." Many fair housing programs are federally supported by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Those initiatives face [proposed](https://www.nahb.org/blog/2026/04/2027-budget-release) cuts in this year's [budget](https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/budget%5Ffy2027.pdf). The racial inequality Chaney originally faced also [remains](https://nationalfairhousing.org/housing-discrimination-complaints-continue-to-trend-upward/) in housing today. Chaney said she has seen this herself in her area within the last ten years, describing open houses in which certain people are ignored by the listing agent. "That was done on purpose," Chaney said. "Even if the person who looked like me was more aggressive and asked questions, you're not gonna get a follow-up. Nobody's gonna call." Beyond fair housing rights, Chaney noted the finances of buying a home, or even renting one, are currently hard for anyone – young people in particular. The challenge is made clear through HOME's down payment assistance grants. Despite rising from $1,500 in the 1990s to $25,000 today, Chaney said they are often not enough for first-time homebuyers. "My children can't afford to buy in the community where they grew up, in Church Hill, because the average property is $480, $560, $600 (thousand)," Chaney said. "And Lord knows it's not the quality of housing that we're used to." Chaney hopes the organization she gave much of her life to can work with others in Richmond on affordable housing, the city's [zoning code refresh](https://www.richmonder.org/code-refresh/) and other issues. She has been involved with several of these other organizations as a member, offering guidance to state, national and local entities from the affordable housing-focused Better Housing Coalition to the city's Habitat for Humanity chapter. "That's the only way we can get things done really is to work as a team, a collective team," Chaney said. "But as far as the broader picture, it is just making sure that people understand their rights and know whether they're being treated unfairly or illegally — or just outright wrong." --- ### Series sponsor: [![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/99/06/99067822-fdfd-42b1-ab19-555c33eefb89/content/images/2026/04/Richmonder-Ad-Imagery.jpg)](https://www.work4estes.com/) Proud to call Richmond home, Estes is driven by people who go the extra mile — every day, for every customer. As the nation’s largest privately held freight carrier and a Richmond Top Workplace, we’re always looking for great people to join our team. [Explore careers at Estes](https://www.work4estes.com/)