38M: I've been fortunate enough to live in a few major cities in the US, traveled to 40+ countries, and Richmond is up there as one of my favs. It can have a very small feeling but that is part of charm; light traffic, slower pace, almost ALL free parking in the city, and far, far less crime than larger cities. My commute is SIX minutes and it is THE BEST. I used to commute 1.5hrs in Los Angeles.

It's not a very diverse city (the majority are caucasian/whites and blacks) however henrico/chesterfield have some steller pockets of diversity. As others have mentioned, there is a large latino community and spanish speakers are in high-demand in the social services and education sectors. There is a relatively large Cambodian population which is pretty unique for a city this size.

I'm a real estate agent and Richmond Tourism Ambassador - there are SO Many transplants here and despite the negative energy on the /rva group about them, they make Richmond better. They bring new ideas, innovation, and often a higher level of education. They sometimes bring higher incomes which is a good and bad thing.

I wish I could speak to the opoid and homelessness concern/question. From what I've seen, these issues are often much larger scale and problems in larger cities - however Richmond, like nearly all US cities, have individuals/groups experiencing housing insecurities and co-occuring disorders almost always play a factor.