RECENT COMMENTS

7th District Roundtable notes

The first of the Mayor’s 7th District Roundtable Meetings of 2007 and the first chaired by Reggie Malone drew approximately 20 people to EDI. The core of the meeting was a 45-minute presentation and Q&A by Anthony Scott, Executive Director of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA).

In his presentation, Mr.Scott gave an overview of the scale, responsabilities, and future plans of RRHA. RRHA, in addition to being the largest public housing organization in the state, also works with the city to aquire and develop/redevelop properties. RRHA has over 4000 public housing units available and offers approximately 3000 housing choice vouchers. Funding for comes from a variety of sources, with 13.5% coming from the city, 12.5% from rental income, and 71% from federal funding. The presentation also gave an overview of the RRHA plans for deveopment and redevelopment at Dove Court, Blackwell (188 single family homes), and Jackson Place. Mr.Scott can be contacted at ascott@rrha.state.va.us or (804) 780-4462.

During the Q&A with Mr.Scott, the status of the Jefferson Townhomes (Mosby St. & Venable St.) came up. The audience was able to provide that Genisis Properties was the owner, not the RRHA. The future of this property is not in the RRHA’s hands except tangentially, in that there are 100+ Section 8 housing voucher residents living at Jefferson Townhomes.

A long-time resident of Fairmount brought up the failed 2003 attempt to get a HOPE VI redevelopment plan for Mosby Court South. The point made was many local residents would like to see the public housing, as it now exists, gone. Mr.Scott stated that the goal is to redevelop all of the public housing in the city so that it does not look like public housing.

A speaker from Fulton Hill wondered about the impact of Section 8 housing on a “fragile” neigborhood or block, asking what what was known about the effect of a high concentration of Section 8 housing. Mr.Scott replied that they were working to attract more landlords and working on an ongoing imporovement in their own operations.

I’ve asked for a digital copy of Mr.Scott’s presentation; I’ll post this if/when I receive a copy.

Also present at the meeting was Sam Patterson, liason for Councilwoman Delores McQuinn and representives from the Greater Fulton Hill Civic Association and New Vision Civic League of East End.

The next rountable meeting will feature a discussion and conversation about what is really going on in the East End, with regard to the recent Style Article.