We, the following residents of Richmond, call upon RRHA and the City of Richmond to commit to the following principles to govern the process of redeveloping public housing:
- A meaningful and enforceable resident participation process will guide all substantive decisions about redevelopment;
- There will be at least one-for-one replacement of all affected units with newly-built or renovated public housing units (“replacement units”);
- Replacement units will be of like kind (1 bedroom for 1 bedroom, 5 bedroom for 5 bedroom, elderly for elderly, family for family, etc.), subject to an analysis of needs of current and future public housing-eligible residents;
- Those replacement units will be reserved for very low-income and extremely low-income households, as under current public housing admissions rules;
- The opportunity to live in the replacement units will be offered first to those households living in RRHA units, without having to re-apply or re-qualify;
- Residents who are displaced by redevelopment, and who wish to stay in public housing, will be guaranteed replacement housing in the following order of preference:
- Replacement units at their current site.
- Replacement units in another area that has equal or greater advantages as their current site.
- As a last resort, and only when required by space or necessity, temporary housing of an equal or greater quality to their existing housing, with a duration not to exceed 12 months.
- Each displaced household will have the right to choose to return to the redeveloped site or to relocate permanently to another replacement unit;
- The redevelopment process will support a system of economic justice in which residents have priority access to jobs, homeownership and contracting opportunities created by redevelopment, and in which the redeveloped communities feature improved amenities and enhanced access to services, employment and transportation for residents.
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