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TexasTowelie

(111,319 posts)
Sat Nov 30, 2019, 11:11 AM Nov 2019

Eviction City

Organizers behind a Richmond coalition call for officials to address the needs of displaced public housing residents.


If Navy Hill is built, expect displacement and evictions to rise, say organizers with Richmond for All, coalition formed last year to protest inadequate heat for hundreds of public housing residents. Now its fighting public housing evictions and Navy Hill, the proposed $1.5 billion dollar megaproject that would require public financing through an 80-block tax increment financing zone downtown.

Nearly a hundred activists gather in front of City Hall before a Nov. 12 City Council meeting to protest Navy Hill. Among the crowd are many of the same activists who rallied in front of the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority headquarters in January and who mobilized to fight evictions of as many as one in eight Creighton Court residents recently.

Omari Al-Qadaffi, a longtime public housing organizer, says that Navy Hill is part of a long-standing plan by the housing authority to demolish public housing.

“The plan was formulated by [former authority chief executive] T.K. Somanath, and he’s the affordable housing consultant for Navy Hill,” Al-Qadaffi says. He points to the recent evictions in Creighton Court as phase one. “They think they’re going to redevelop Creighton Court first, so the evictions and vacancy rates are highest there.”

Read more: https://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/eviction-city/Content?oid=15340683
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Eviction City (Original Post) TexasTowelie Nov 2019 OP
Already a big eviction problem here. underpants Nov 2019 #1

underpants

(182,284 posts)
1. Already a big eviction problem here.
Sat Nov 30, 2019, 12:02 PM
Nov 2019

In fact 5 of the top 10 eviction rates in the country are in Va.
Th biggest reason is that they are spending 58-70% of their income on housing. One hiccup and they can be forced out. One eviction and it's nearly impossible to get another lease. Rental rates are crazy downtown. I know someone who rents rather than commute during the week (he can afford it) and he pays $1,600 a month for a 600 or 800 square foot apartment.

Navy Hill to me is not highly lived in but then I looked at a map and saw that Creighton Court is included. Navy Hill is mostly the Coliseum, VCU/MCV, bio tech, and Altria (Phillip Morris) at least I thought it was.

I don't see how this project will produce anywhere near what they are saying it will. As far as bands go there is already a huge facility down in Tidewater and of course DC is only 2 hours away. Richmond is literally a pass through between the two.

Princeton and VCU are studying the local problem and finding solutions.

https://wtvr.com/2019/10/01/virginia-high-eviction-rates-cns/

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