HOUSING
The RRHA says it needs about $160 million over the next 10 years to keep its roughly 4,000 public housing units “in safe and decent condition for families.” That’s 2½ times the $64 million it projects will be available over the same period.
… there were few details for residents, including whether the housing authority would construct a new building or renovate the existing 11-story towers. Link
Richmond’s mayor and housing authority chief executive pledged communication and cooperation Wednesday night at the latest in a series of meetings aimed at building trust with public housing tenants in advance of plans to dramatically transform Creighton and Whitcomb courts.
The “for lease” signs across greater Richmond are growing, if you believe the latest figures from the US Census Bureau. The agency calculates nearly 20% of apartments in greater Richmond are empty.
CNBC ran with the story, ranking Richmond the 5th emptiest city in America. But local rental agencies are evicting these figures.
A measure that would expand the availability of Richmond’s cold-weather overflow shelter to the homeless cleared a City Council committee Wednesday and will head to the full body for approval.
Windowless apartments are cropping up across the city. Are they bad for you?
In Richmond, hundreds of apartments have been built during the last few years without traditional windows. City planning officials don’t keep track, so it’s difficult to know for sure how many. But since 2007, the city’s office of planning and community development has reviewed six apartment projects with windowless units that required special use permits. In those six projects, 232 apartments didn’t include external windows.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Armstrong High SchoolThe City of Richmond and the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) are teaming up to listen to Creighton and Whitcomb residents’ vision for their communities. This is one of several community meetings to engage and involve community members in the planned revitalization of public housing in the East End.
More than 140 people showed up Tuesday night to hear a presentation from Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority CEO Adrienne Goolsby on the early stages of a plan to replace two major East End public housing communities with a mixed-income development.
Is there a plan?
“The city of Atlanta was the first city in the nation to perform a complete public housing transformation and their efforts provide a baseline for other cities to review. Our visit there was extremely beneficial as we work to develop plans of revitalizing concentrations of public housing in Richmond.
It is important to note that at this time, no final decision regarding how we revitalize and de-concentrate public housing has been reached. We visited Atlanta, along with Norfolk, in an effort to gain as much information as possible as we continue our deliberations.
Transforming Richmond’s public housing communities will require a collaborative effort. We look forward to working closely with RRHA’s new CEO Adrienne Goolsby, and utilizing her experiences in Chicago, as we work to change the face of Richmond’s public housing communities.
Community input is vital in determining the city’s direction of transforming public housing. The city has already begun the process of engaging the community with the 2010 East End Charrette and will continue in conjunction with RRHA to expand this effort in the coming months.”
Atlanta’s Public Housing Authority admitted to making mistakes along the way, but said people there are better off now. Still, critics said Atlanta’s housing plan was a failure…. wtvr.com
The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority gave $24,000 in scholarships Tuesday night to six college-bound students from local public-housing communities…. timesdispatch.com
Grade Point Averages
