Infographic by Sarah Lockwood
About 30 people crowded into Maymont Park’s stone barn for the neighborhood’s civic league meeting. On the docket were alley cleanups, nude Texas Beach bathers and vacant houses. In Maymont, as in several neighborhoods across the city, the latter means that Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority was there.
The RRHA owns 110 single-family homes citywide. Of those 110, 66 houses — including nine in Maymont — have been vacant for many years, including a cluster near the entrance to Texas Beach, around an old basketball court turned skate park. Marcia Davis, RRHA chief real estate development officer, says the authority in May submitted a plan for the 66 houses that was rejected by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The plan called for some going to auction as-is at market value and some being renovated and sold to families of various income levels, not all at 80 percent or below the average median income, the qualifier for subsidized federal housing. That appears to have been the deal breaker. Clashes with HUD have plagued the housing authority this year. In August, an audit found that the RRHA had double-charged the federal agency a half-million-dollar information technology fee, and HUD questioned the authority’s $95 hourly rate of pay for general maintenance work, which racked up almost $5 million in charges.
The long-vacant Maymont properties have been a matter of consternation for neighbors. “It breaks your heart to know there are people on lists waiting for housing in the city,” says Libby Germer, secretary of the civic league.
A new plan submitted at the beginning of September calls for half of the 66 houses to be auctioned off, and the other half divided between nonprofits Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity and Project:Homes, which will renovate and sell all 33 to families making 80 percent or less than the average median income.
The nine in Maymont are in the latter group.
“[The two nonprofits] will be responsible for renovating these units within 18 months, finding homeowners, finding the down payment assistance and finding the counseling,” says Davis.
HUD has 120 days to make a decision on the plan.
“We say that they have 120 days to give us an answer, but it will probably take a little bit longer,” Davis says. “This is a very controversial issue, getting rid of public housing and selling it off.” Davis estimates a decision may come in 2017.
Germer, like others at the meeting, seemed pleased with the plan. “I like the auctioning off, keeping it fresh and the nonprofits.”
The nude bathers, though, no one knows what to do with.
Associate Publisher Susan Winiecki sits on the board for Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity.
