DOWN THE PIKE is an ongoing project about the affordable housing crisis in the United States and the lingering consequences of generational poverty from the perspective of one community in central Virginia.

This frame: Kelsey Ratliff stands with her daughter Liliana, 2, in the doorway of their room at America's Best Value Inn while Chesterfield police officers explain that she must vacate the property August 8, 2017. Ratliff has been living at the hotel since Christmas 2016, but the officers explained that because she has switched rooms, the Landlord-Tenant Act does not apply to her and she is not eligible for the official eviction process. Ratliff said she is packed and ready to leave but hasn't been able to find a single hotel with a vacancy for herself, Liliana and her daughter, Ariella, born July 1.