RICHMOND, Va. — After several hours of discussion on Wednesday night, Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority's Board of Commissioners voted against moving Gilpin Court under the leadership of Richmond Development Corporation (RDC).
The commission has not said whether it will amend the proposal to bring to a vote again.
"We, the Gilpin residents did not, majority of us did not know about the transfer from the RDC. We don't know who RDC is. We do not support the transfer," one resident said during Wednesday's meeting. "We're concerned about the effects of this transfer on tenants' rights as public housing residents. We worry about increased rents, we worry about displacement. And mostly we worry about the fact that this is being done without a full and public consideration of its risks.
According to RRHA CEO Steven Nesmith, RDC is a wholly owned subsidiary of RRHA, meaning it is still controlled by the Authority.
"The Richmond Development Corporation, the RDC, is not a private company. It is a 501c3," Nesmith explained. "It is used by all, most of the public housing authorities in the Commonwealth of Virginia for what it's a developmental arm to advance development. And so it is a very common practice and is used."
When CBS 6 spoke to him before the vote, Nesmith said there's a reason why he pushed for this change: different funding streams under the nonprofit's name.
"We want to lock in what's called 'tenant protection vouchers' and funding, because at the federal level, with the volatility, we don't know if funding will be there. That's one. And we can also begin the process of leveraging that funding to go after other funding sources," Nesmith explained.
Nesmith said neighbors are on board, referring to a 179-page document including input from residents and planning processes that took place over the course of at least one year.
But not everyone was on board.
Third District Richmond City Councilmember Kenya Gibson wrote a letter to RRHA Wednesday morning, detailing her concerns.
“The affordable housing crisis in Richmond is as much about the fact that we aren't building enough as it is that we are tearing down the most affordable housing stock that we have in the city," Gibson said, citing falling enrollment in Richmond Public Schools because of people moving out of the city to find affordable housing. "Public housing is the most affordable housing stock we have as a city. It's a safety net."
Gibson said she worries about residents being potentially priced out of new housing due to the change.
“As a public piece of property, they're not paying property taxes if they move it into a private nonprofit entity. Now that the property could be subject to property tax, which is a huge amount of money that would have to get passed on to the residents in order to be able to incur it," she said.
She also shared concerns about residents no longer having the same protections that Public Housing Authorities must provide to their residents.
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Public housing, when there are public dollars, there are, there are systems in place that are there to protect residents. You know, there are democratic processes that don't exist in private housing complexes, right?" she said. “While I appreciate the benefits of mixed-income housing, of course, that's a goal but, but having that safety net is not something that we can easily replace. There are 2,000 residents at Gilpin Court. Where is the plan for those residents? And why would we make such a drastic decision without having a plan in place?”
Nesmith told CBS 6 that residents would be able to come back and keep the same rent rate.
"The rents here, after redevelopment, will be locked in for the tenants. That's another protection. At 30%. No more than 30% of what they're currently making," Nesmith said. "As we transfer phases into the nonprofit entity, RDC, each phase, we would then apply for tax relief to the city."
Nesmith said the development would be broken up into 10 different phases through the use of a "ground lease," noting that the title to the land would still be under RRHA's name.
Prior to the vote, Nesmith said that regardless, RRHA leaders will meet with tenants once again to discuss plans for Gilpin Court. There are currently 781 units.
CBS 6 compared the recent Creighton Court development, asking why that neighborhood's redevelopment did not involve moving Creighton under the nonprofit. In that case, out of the more than 200 residents who were living in the neighborhood being redeveloped, only about 20 returned.
"When we did Creighton Court, we were not in a volatile situation when it comes to funding for this going forward. But what we're going to do in this, we're not going to just rely on federal funding. We're actually just going to go out and do some traditional funding, like with Creighton Court. But here, because this is the oldest and the biggest, we need to lock in those protections for tenants now," Nesmith said.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
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