Residents and advocates urge Richmond to use vacant city properties and follow Affordable Housing Trust Fund law

Several residents and housing advocates used the council’s public-comment period to press Richmond to prioritize deeply affordable housing and to follow existing law on the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

Dr. Carl Vaughn, founder of Jumpstart U2, urged the city to repurpose the Norrell Annex (201 West Graham Street), recently quitclaimed by Richmond Public Schools, into community capacity-building and transitional housing programs rather than selling surplus property to private developers. "Too often, surplus properties are sold to developers who promise affordable housing units that in practice remain out of reach," Vaughn said.

Speakers including Beverly Ross and Derek Redwine criticized the city for not implementing ordinance "20 22 14," which they said established a dedicated funding stream for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. "For five years, funding intended to build deeply affordable housing has been redirected," Redwine told council. "That is simply unacceptable."

Council members and staff signaled action on related policy: the council amended and adopted Resolution R043 directing the CAO and relevant departments to inventory displacement-mitigation programs and report findings and recommendations within a revised deadline. Council Member Robertson cited a Housing Opportunities Made Equal report as motivating the resolution and said the work is "long overdue." The resolution passed on a recorded vote.

What happens next: Departments named in the resolution will conduct the inventory and return findings and recommendations to council within the amended timeline specified in R043.