Editor’s note: This story mentions thoughts of suicide. Please read and listen with discretion.
Ever since Rasheda Scott received a housing choice voucher in 2019, she and her disabled adult son have depended on it to keep a roof over their heads.
Which meant their lives were turned upside down when the Virginia Beach Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation terminated her voucher on May 31, alleging Scott inflated the size of her household to qualify for a larger apartment. Scott said this was a city worker’s error.
She and her son are facing homelessness. The stress has taken its toll, affecting Scott’s sleep and anxiety.
“I felt like I didn't want to go on with my life anymore, because I just wasn't able to afford anything if I didn't have the voucher,” she said.
Participants in the housing choice voucher program are required to recertify their income and household composition every year to keep their voucher. The paperwork can be overwhelming, said Melissa Bonfiglio, the deputy director and director of litigation at Legal Aid Society of Eastern Virginia.
And Scott has conditions that can make complex paperwork even more difficult, including hearing loss, short-term memory loss, post-traumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia with chronic widespread pain, migraine disorder, and Ménière’s disease with progressive hearing impairment, Bonfiglio said.
The Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit on Scott’s behalf last month, asserting the city ignored requests for reasonable accommodations for Scott and violated federal and state fair housing laws.
“If you are struggling to complete paperwork as a direct result of your disability, that's sort of the definition of discrimination,” Bonfiglio said.
Virginia Beach is reviewing the suit, city spokesperson Ali Weatheron said.
“Because this matter involves a federally funded program, we are coordinating with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,” she wrote in an email. “We recognize that situations involving housing assistance can have a significant impact on individuals and families. Out of respect for privacy and confidentiality, it would not be appropriate to discuss the specifics of this case or any individual applicant or application.”
Bonfiglio said it’s rare for housing departments or authorities to deny reasonable accommodation requests.
“When these cases come to us and we're able to verify the disability with a healthcare provider, and we can show that the disability affected a client's completion of the paperwork and there's a nexus between the disability and the accommodation that we're asking for, we are usually pretty successful on reasonable accommodation requests,” she said.
The city has up to 60 days to respond to the complaint, Bonfiglio said.
In the meantime, the stakes for Scott and her son remain high, said Evan Carcerano, Scott’s attorney at Legal Aid.
Without a voucher, Scott and her son won’t be able to afford housing. And they’re facing a looming eviction — which is separate from the lawsuit Legal Aid filed on Scott’s behalf.
Scott said she moved into her current unit in January after receiving the green light from the city’s housing department in December 2025. But city officials said the department never approved the unit. Without the voucher payments, Scott fell behind on rent, and an eviction judgement was made against her June 29.
“There's a lot of big questions about what's next, and not a lot of good answers,” Carcerano said.
Scott said the best outcome she can hope for is that the city reinstates her housing voucher — and soon.
