Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority CEO Steven B. Nesmith (Photo courtesy Steven B. Nesmith)
CEO Steven B. Nesmith joined the Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority in October and has been busy ever since with creating what he calls transformative changes for the city’s public housing, which includes relaunching the Richmond Development Corp. in February to build public-private partnerships to boost affordable housing. Nesmith spoke with Richmond magazine about his vision for the city and the Greater Richmond region.
Richmond magazine: Why was it important to relaunch RDC and how will this help accomplish RRHA’s goals?
Steven B. Nesmith: It is our vision to radically transform public housing in a way that hasn’t been done before, which has been to use a tool called the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s RAD Low-Income Housing Tax Credit tool. But that’s not transformational, that will take years and years and years to basically demolish and rebuild what we have, which is the oldest housing stock and infrastructure along the entire East Coast.
Through the RDC, we have the legal authority to issue a housing revenue bond and a tax increment financing bond. These two instruments will allow us to tap private-sector capital markets and Wall Street investors to invest in those bonds. We will be launching a homeownership program for public housing residents to create some incentives and opportunities for qualified public housing renters to enter into homeownership in a way that they haven’t before. We want to launch a rent-to-own concept through the RDC. And we’re also going to be looking at a modest down payment assistance program.
RM: Which part of the Richmond community will be most impacted by RDC’s relaunch?
Nesmith: First, obviously, public housing residents who want to live in better, safe and sound, and clean public housing conditions. Our goal is to demolish these cinderblock buildings, structures that they’re living in, and to build something that is more similar to the Armstrong Renaissance [apartments]. The other beneficiaries will be the city residents in general, because we are partnering with Mayor [Levar] Stoney’s initiative to create 2,000 more low-income homeowners in the city of Richmond.
The third and last category of people that will benefit are our surrounding counties, because if we can find affordable opportunities for Richmonders to stay here in the city, that’s what we want to do, rather than for them to go out to the counties.
Now, we want to give residents choices. So if they want to move and be mobile, because that’s part of the reason, they ought to go where the jobs are, wherever the jobs are; you want to be able to have a person move. And so this will also benefit the region.
RM: What does RRHA plan to do better in the coming years?
Nesmith: I would like to better communicate our vision, our mission, and I want to see us do better in partnering. We have to do a better job of bringing in strategic partners to advance our mission and our vision, and we can’t execute on that plan without strategic partners in the city and in the region.
RM: What does it mean to you to help the Richmond community?
Nesmith: It’s something that is close to my heart because I grew up in public housing. I also grew up on welfare. People are always stunned when I say that because they look at my resume and they say ... you must have come from a privileged background. And I say no, it is actually those two things, growing up in public housing and growing up on welfare, that gave me the strength when I hit some rough patches in my life, to actually accomplish all those things in life. And so what it means to me to be serving and doing the job that I’m doing right now is something that is not actually for me a job at all. It is a mission. It is something for which I believe that God has asked me. I had other opportunities, but I chose this one.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
