RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Richmond City Council declared a housing crisis during their Monday, April 10 meeting.
Mayor Levar Stoney and other patrons originally proposed the resolution to declare a housing crisis for the city on March 27, but did not officially declare the crisis at that time.
“The Mayor and Council believe that it is in the best interests of the residents of the city of Richmond that the Mayor and the Council declare a housing crisis in the city of Richmond in order to bring attention, funding, and increased collaboration to this matter,” the resolution reads.
Now that the resolution has passed, it will go into effect immediately. However, City Council has not outlined a clear plan of attack for how to tackle the newly minted housing crisis.
“Once this crisis is declared, what will that mean? And what area will be addressed first?” one housing organization advocate asked during Monday’s meeting.
For next steps, Council member Stephanie Lynch recommended cracking on short term rentals as a way to put land back on the housing market, as well as addressing out-of-state buyers who are running up the cost of living within Richmond.
One main focus of the Council appears to be on making new affordable units available. The resolution referenced a report by the RVA Eviction Lab which found that approximately 87% of evictions in Richmond are filed by out-of-state companies.
Also according to the resolution, there is reportedly a shortage of 23,320 housing units for sale or available to rent in Richmond, and one in five homes in Richmond is sold to out-of-state corporate investors.
The Council has also turned their attention to mass evictions in the City. A study cited in the resolution found that a group of 15 landlords are responsible for more than half of all evictions in Richmond.
Some work has already been done to improve the state of affordable housing in the River City. City Council states that the city has received $10 million for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and used it to open 1,000 new affordable rental units in Richmond. The city was also awarded $14 in federal funding for affordable housing at the end of March.
However, there is still another $10 million in ARPA funding that has yet to be released, and Council members are acknowledging that more money will be needed to find future housing issues.
“What I’m hearing is that people want the money released now and we’ve had meetings upon meetings and council members have committed themselves that the money is coming in,” Reva Trammell, City Councilmember, said. “But we don’t write the checks. We don’t write the checks.”
Trammell added that the Mayor has promised more funding is on the way.
Now that the crisis is officially in place, many Richmonders are hoping not just for plans, but for action.
“I’m hoping in my prayers that the mayor, the Council does not just declare a housing crisis in Richmond but that we do something about it,” one Richmond resident, said.
