Code Refresh isn’t a threat. The status quo is.

May 25, 2026, Richmond Times-Dispatch

by Amy Wentz and Thomas Okuda Fitzpatrick

Many Richmonders are worried about displacement and gentrification. And they should be. We’ve watched neighbors get pushed out. We’ve watched Richmond cease to be a majority-Black city, a distinction it held from 1970 until 2020.

When people ask whether Code Refresh — the first overhaul of Richmond’s zoning code since 1976 — will make that worse, the question deserves a real answer.

The two of us work on these issues every single day, pursuing environmental justice in Southside and fighting to defend Virginians’ civil rights in housing. Here’s what we know:

The status quo is what’s making housing here worse. Code Refresh is how we change it.

Under our existing code, the most privileged neighborhoods are all but walled off from growth. New construction has concentrated in historically Black and Brown communities, where residents often lack the political clout, the money for attorneys or the sheer time to fight zoning meeting after zoning meeting. Developers — many from out of state — have built without serious obstacles in the neighborhoods least equipped to push back.

Our city is already growing — it’s growing without a plan. And the people least able to speak up are losing the most.

That’s the status quo. That’s what we need to change.

A 2024 study from Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia documented double-digit losses of Black residents from core Richmond neighborhoods over the preceding decade. Code Refresh didn’t do that. The status quo did.

Other concerns have focused on tree coverage, and rightly so. Shade and tree canopy are essential to health and quality of life. But Code Refresh isn’t a bulldozer. In fact, the latest draft introduced tree coverage requirements on all new developments, ranging from 10% to 20%, depending on the site. That’s the right move.

The sprawl that hollowed out Richmond in the mid-20th century was made possible by highways paved through Black neighborhoods, and planners who saw Black communities as obstacles to progress. Code Refresh is how we stop repeating those harms, doing our part to limit sprawl, preserve existing affordable housing, and fill in where we can.

Another common worry: new homes will mess with neighborhood character. But that’s far more likely under the status quo. Right now, a developer with enough money and patience can usually secure a special use permit to build whatever they please — because our 1976 code is so outdated that almost nothing can be built without that kind of authorization. Code Refresh sets guardrails, so neighborhoods grow slowly, and in character. Without it? We’ll get more of the same.

You don’t have to take our word for it. The city recently commissioned a study assessing Code Refresh’s likely impact on single-family neighborhoods. The headline finding: Even under the most intense development scenario, single-family neighborhoods citywide would see no more than about 300 new units per year, or less than 1% of the total. Code Refresh isn't a plan to demolish single-family zones — it's a plan for infill, gentle growth and more housing options in more places.

What’s in it for you? When we allow for that gentle growth, we’ll build housing that Richmonders actually want and can afford: duplexes, small apartments, and backyard homes. We can have more small markets, neighborhood pharmacies, coffee shops you can walk to — less time in the car, more time with neighbors. This isn’t some fringe vision: in a recent poll, 85% of Richmond residents said they support allowing neighborhoods to have these sorts of small businesses right down the block.

For now, we’re stuck inside a displacement engine pitting residents against each other. When families of means can’t find a place in their first-choice neighborhood, they bid up the next one. Families there get pushed to a less preferred one. And on down the line, until the people with the fewest options are pushed out entirely. Code Refresh is a release valve — a promise to ease pressure on vulnerable neighborhoods by allowing more homes in the communities that have been protected from growth for decades.

It's no wonder we're hearing the loudest howls from longtime homeowners. Many haven't rented or shopped for a home in decades. In 1985, the median American home cost about 3.5 times the median household income. Today in Richmond, it's more than six times. If you last rented or bought when Reagan was president, you haven't faced this market.

Thing is? Most Richmonders already know this. That same poll found nine in ten said high housing costs have affected them or someone they know. Half of all residents said those costs make it hard to see a future in this city — and among renters, that climbs to two-thirds. The voices against reform are loud, but they are not the majority. Most Richmonders want a city where they — and their children — can afford to stay.

Code Refresh is how we build that city. The status quo isn’t neutral — it’s a choice. It’s time we made a better one.

Thomas Okuda Fitzpatrick is executive director of Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia. He can be reached at tom@homeofva.org. Amy Wentz is co-founder of the nonprofit Southside ReLeaf. She can be reached at amy@southsidereleaf.org.