Public Housing Evictions, Urban Sketchers, and a River Drone
Cheers RVA!
Today will be partly cloudy with a high of 87. The week ahead looks mostly sunny with highs below 90. Yay.
the juice:
The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority is set to resume eviction proceedings in September and has spent the last two months reaching out to tenants to sign up for refinance plans to avoid eviction, via VPM.
Richmond currently has about 3500 households in public housing, with roughly 60% owing a combined $3 million in back rent.
Public housing tenants are typically expected to pay rents at 30% of their income.
The CEO of the housing authority, Stephen Nesmith, has said between text-messages, emails, and knocking on doors, there have been plenty of contact points with those at risk of eviction.
The outreach has been focused on the 700 tenants whose back rent is between $1000 and $30000.
The refinancing plan requires tenants to pay up to a $100 down payment, adjusted for income, and agree to begin making back rent payments October 1.
The Washington Post reports on how the pandemic exacerbated the problem twofold:
Staff turnover and lack of training caused dysfunction in the system resulting in errors in rent calculation and collection.
The moratorium on evictions during the pandemic prompted some residents to completely stop paying rent, knowing they would not be evicted.
The Post story also reports on a specific resident, Nikki Jones, whose monthly rent increased from $554 to $1028 in 2020. She went to the RRHA office repeatedly and reported the error but nothing was changed. Eventually she was unable to make the payments.
After a judge earlier in the year ruled she had 10 days to move out, she moved out on her own because she refused to be evicted.
Jones had lived in Whitcomb Court since 2009.
She was able to find an apartment for $1500/mo, which is 60% of the $2500 monthly income she earns as a Security Guard for Truist Bank.
Needless to say, Jones was devastated to hear Nesmith’s announcement for the refinancing plan, noting it was simply too late.
Read the Post article here. If you’re behind the paywall you can still listen to the article, but they won’t let you read it.
the pulp:
A driver of a motorcycle was killed after being struck by a car in Scott’s Addition Saturday evening. Apparently the motorcyclist was driving recklessly, and the driver of the car remained at the scene.
A man was critically injured in a shooting in Gilpin court around 2 am early Sunday morning.
RVA Mag has a neat article about Richmond’s urban sketchers. Urban sketching is drawing on location, from direct observation, rather than memory or photos. The idea is to capture the world as it lives and breathes.
the dive:
The Times-Dispatch Editorial Board zooms out from the recent bureaucratic cesspool of news and focuses on the structural and systemic causes at the root of the dysfunction.
The article cites research from Harvard stating 52% of Richmonders are rent-burdened, meaning they pay more than 30% of their income in rent, which is higher than New York City, Chicago, and Washington DC.
Although poverty has decreased to under 20% in recent years, this change is largely the result of resident displacement.
Not only are schools more racially segregated than ever since 1970, but:
When you delve deeper into the numbers, you discover this leads to a bigger problem: “double-segregated” schools, where at least 75% of the student population is economically disadvantaged and 75% a single ethnic minority. There are 15 such schools in metro Richmond, 11 of which are in the city.
Having 20% of the City’s real estate off the tax rolls also hurts, with VCU sitting on $2.5 billion of real estate that could generate $30 million in lost revenue for the city.
Read the full editorial here.
the vibe:
A cool 12-second drone shot on reddit after Debby passed through.
Have a dynamic day RVA!
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