The Richmonder routinely uses charts, graphs and other numbers to explain stories of significance to the community. Each month, we'll use this space to highlight some of our best stories, and the numbers and charts that impact your life:

Real estate

As home prices continue to rise, the population of Chesterfield County has grown faster than the surrounding areas post-COVID.

In a piece examining a rise in all-cash home sales, Laura Finaldi said developers are gravitating to Chesterfield because of the county's willingness to approve zoning cases, provide water and sewer services and county officials' general enthusiasm for new construction, which doesn't exist elsewhere.

“It’s a tough process to get a rezoning and to get people on board with adding housing close to their housing,” the local home builders' association president said. 

Meanwhile, Sarah Vogelsong reports that there is likely no relief coming for rising home prices.

• Builders need to construct 1.5 million single and multifamily housing units annually to meet demand, but are falling short of those targets, National Association of Home Builders President and CEO Jim Tobin said in a recent speech in Richmond.
• “We can no longer give taxpayer dollars to people to help them afford an already expensive product," he said. "It is time to lower the cost of the product by putting more supply out there.” 

GRTC Zero Fare

A recent report gathered survey data to support the continuation of GRTC's fare-free policy.

The survey gathered information about bus riders in the city, and found that 60% of local bus riders make less than $30,000 a year, making the system a critical lifeline. Read more from Victoria A. Ifatusin here.

Road Improvement

Richmond is getting what it's paying for on the roads, where a paving blitz that began a few years ago has resulted in a marked improvement in conditions across the city, Graham Moomaw reports.

Wondering how your neighborhood's roads are rated on the national index? There is an interactive map here.

Reading scores in Richmond elementary schools

Lois Harrison-Jones Elementary School outpaced every other school in Richmond in the number of disadvantaged students that passed the third-grade reading SOL test.

• Being able to read by third grade is a crucial milestone and a reliable predictor of future success.

Victoria A. Ifatusin dives into the success the school is having and the methods behind it.

City employee residency requirements

Right now, there are 12 high-level positions at City Hall that require the occupant to live in the city of Richmond or receive an exception.

• Mayor Danny Avula wants to loosen the requirement, arguing that top talent might prefer to live in the counties.
• City Council member Sarah Abubaker is proposing to increase the requirement to 43 positions, with the rationale that living in the community makes those employees more in touch with the needs of citizens.

The issue will be debated in the coming months. Read more here from Graham Moomaw.

Survey of local nonprofits

A group of four area funders surveyed local nonprofits as they continue to navigate an uncertain environment around federal budget decisions.

In addition to budgetary and planning concerns, 50% of the respondents said they were dealing with staff burnout, Michael Phillips reported, as the uncertainty of federal cuts takes its toll.

The data represents a real-time look at how local nonprofits are being impacted by the current environment.

Zoning code refresh

Reporter Sarah Vogelsong did a deep dive into the upcoming rewrite of the city's zoning code, its first in 50 years.

In evaluating Richmond's neighborhoods, the Code Refresh group found neighborhoods where more than half of all lots are currently "nonconfirming" to the zoning code.

• That means they were built before the code, and were grandfathered in, or received a special use permit.
• Those lots will not be required to change as a result of the rewrite.

“We need to get to the point where we can build stuff that looks like Richmond by right,” said an affordable housing leader.

Thank you for reading. We're always working to add more ways to connect.

Michael Phillips, founding editor
mphillips@richmonder.org