During the past several months, the Mayor’s Office has communicated with dozens of individuals and families potentially facing evictions.

We’ve talked to elderly residents who, after years of living in their rental units, are facing rising rents due to a change in property ownership. We’ve talked to individuals who can’t afford to pay their rent due to unforeseen circumstances, such as health and employment issues. We’ve talked to families who live in public housing and are struggling to stay afloat.

Although the circumstances differ, there is one common denominator: All are experiencing housing insecurity — a national epidemic — and they shouldn’t be.

Each year in Richmond, approximately 18,000 eviction lawsuits are filed, resulting in nearly 3,000 evictions. Many other tenants voluntarily move before they are forcibly evicted.

About 95 percent of these eviction lawsuits involve non-payment of rent.

This problem doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Housing insecurity creates a downward spiral, often leading to joblessness, health problems, lack of access to quality food and transportation, disruption to a child’s academic performance and overall trauma.

We hear the stories and we see that those who are most impacted are some of our most vulnerable residents — low-income communities of color, including female-led, single-parent households.

Tackling this injustice has become a top priority for Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s administration. Housing is a right that should be afforded to all, and several efforts are underway to help build equity into a housing system that has not worked for our black and brown communities for far too long.

Mayor Stoney’s Eviction Diversion Program, now in its third month, provides support to our city’s most vulnerable residents who are facing eviction as a result of past due rent. This program, the first ever in the Commonwealth of Virginia, provides financial assistance to participants, helping to ensure the individual stays in his or her home and the landlord receives the rent due.

The program refers tenants to supportive services that can help provide a more holistic approach to other challenges residents may face.

Scores of families already have been helped; the program is on track to stopping up to 500 evictions in its first year.

In mid-November, Mayor Stoney announced the formation of an Eviction Task Force to help identify and address the root causes of evictions and to focus on eviction prevention. While the Eviction Diversion Program is a win-win for the tenant, the landlord and the community, it targets individuals who already have received an eviction lawsuit. The Eviction Task Force, however, will focus on what can be done to help prevent a person from facing the threat of an eviction in the first place.

Residents, housing advocates, scholars, housing attorneys, landlords, property managers and housing nonprofit leaders are some of the stakeholders who make up the diverse task force. The areas of focus include tenant support from prevention through post eviction; support for tenants who are at zero to 30 percent of the area median income; eviction policies; tenant and landlord education; and centralized coordination of housing services and resources.

The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority also has been appointed to the task force and has agreed to work with the city’s Eviction Diversion Program to help reduce the number of its evictions in the city.

In addition to the Eviction Task Force and Eviction Diversion Program efforts, we have been working alongside community partners on a city affordable and equitable housing strategy. The plan is being crafted in a way that takes into account the historical denial of access to quality, affordable housing for communities of color. It also attempts to create a framework in which some of our most historically marginalized groups are centered, including black and brown residents, low-income communities, seniors, youths exiting, foster care, disabled persons, military veterans and returning and formerly incarcerated individuals. The city also is working on a homelessness strategic plan that would further provide the needed services and support to our most vulnerable residents.

We know that the issue of evictions and housing insecurity is a complex one, with historical roots stemming from discriminatory redlining practices, racist Jim Crow-era policies and the insidious institution of slavery. This, like most of the social issues we face, is a systemic, institutional problem that warrants systemic and structural changes.

In this new year, we look forward to even greater collaboration with the community and our partners to lift up our most historically oppressed communities. We thank all who have lent their support in this mission, and, if you aren’t already, ask you to join us in this fight.

The writer is Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s senior policy adviser for community engagement, diversity and inclusion.