RICHMOND, Va. — As Richmond works through its rezoning overhaul known as Code Refresh, a coalition of affordable housing advocacy groups unveiled a set of proposals Monday they said the council and mayor can implement ahead of time to address the affordable housing issue.
The Homes For All Our Neighbors Coalition laid out a series of short- and long-term proposals to address the "four Ps of displacement mitigation (Protect, Plan, Produce, and Preserve)"
"We can build a Richmond that grows without abandoning the people and without pushing folks out of the city," Marissa Clark, Housing Justice Lead Organizer at New Virginia Majority, said. "But it requires the courage to build more housing, paired with the immediate resolve to protect the residents who are already here."
Among the recommendations: use data to identify neighborhoods that have a high-risk of displacement and direct resources to residents there.
"Displacement programming should be structured as wraparound services that connect resources like home repair and tax relief for elderly homeowners, or eviction diversion assistance with counsel to tenants," said Gustavo Espinoza, policy advocate with the Legal Aid Justice Center.
"If you want future projectiles of areas that most at risk of displacement, the PlanRVA's Market Value Analysis is the best place to go," added Laurie Dobbs, the Director of Policy at Housing Opportunities of Made Equal of Virginia. She added the city already has step one done, recently publishing a report on the available resources.
Espinoza said the city should also give these neighborhoods more input when it comes to future development.
"If the city takes a very targeted approach and is giving low-income neighborhoods the power to prevent gentrification and to attract opportunities that actually work for the people that live there, for their culture, for their income brackets, then all neighborhoods could could benefit from this."
The coalition also called for a public database to track subsidized housing in the city, including when rent increase controls will expire on units, and where people can apply for housing.
"Second, we should use tools the state has given us. That includes setting up a first right of refusal process so the city can step in and keep properties affordable when they are at risk," Victor McKenzie, CEO of Virginia Health Catalyst, said. "Third, we have to protect unsubsidized affordable housing — the homes that working families already live in. Too often, these buildings get bought by large investors and rents go up. The city can offer tax incentives to help with rehabilitation, but only if owners agree to basic protections for tenants, like limits on rent increases and stronger rules around evictions."
While several councilmembers and Mayor Danny Avula told CBS 6 they had not seen the proposals and could not comment directly on them, several of the advocates' ideas and the issue of affordable housing were discussed as part of a larger city meeting Monday afternoon.
At the Valentine Museum, city officials met with members of Richmond's state delegation to discuss the last General Assembly session and the city's priorities for the next one.
"I think we have a lot to show for the work that we did together this session. And I'm excited that we get to sit here today in preparation for next year," said Avula at the start of the meeting.
Among the ideas that were already on the minds of lawmakers, First District Councilmember Andrew Breton said he wants to prepare the city for a state law taking effect next year that allows localities to provide incentives to builders to include affordable units in projects.
"So, our teams are already looking into those various bonuses, incentives, things like that," Breton said.
Breton also said he wants to ask the state for more power to go after bad actors.
"For example, there might be vacant properties that we would want more powers to be able to enforce and encourage development on, or being able to more properly enforce our zoning around short-term rentals," Breton said.
Councilmember Sarah Abubaker of the Fourth District said she would like to see the state allow the creation of a regional body to oversee housing — similar to the Central Virginia Transit Authority.
"The more we can come together at the table and say this is what we need collectively in order to address housing, I think the more effective we will be on that state level," Abubaker said.
Council also discussed continuing to push for previously failed efforts, including tax exemptions for long-time homeowners and anti-rent gouging measures — both of which advocates had also called for.
"It is part of the toolbox of affordable housing tools that I believe is necessary here in the city," Breton said of the anti-rent gouging measure.
Espinoza said he hopes council members will keep pushing even on the most difficult asks.
"I did hear some back and forth about some of these asks are going to be really hard asks, and you know what I'm hoping for from the council members is that even hard asks they're going to be pushing because they know that the impact is going to be big," Espinoza said.
The process of the council determining what their asks will be from the General Assembly is just getting started. The goal is to finalize those priorities by October to present to the Richmond delegation.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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