Thread by @rjmarr

This week's board meeting for @VibrantRRHA was crazy, but clear part of larger program of secrecy and privatization. Simply put: #RRHA & #RVA are abandoning the very idea of public housing.
#Thread 1/12

First, this week's meeting was a thinly disguised attempt to ram through RRHA's budget priorities w/o public scrutiny, as activists had to scramble to be there and then were kept out by thuggish "crime czar"

2/12

This is part of a larger pattern of secrecy that seems to be the deliberate efforts of newly hired #RRHA Head Damon Duncan to implement plans w/o having to deal w/ pesky community muckrock.com/news/archives/…
3/12

Some background: as a "single-purpose government," #RRHA is a separate government body created for a special purpose (like a school board). These bodies can be helpful, but you get expertise at the price of democratic accountability
4/12

Technically #RVACouncil appoints #RRHA board, but overworked council has little time or interest in dealing with public housing (like everyone else); only got involved last year when widespread heating crisis hit the media
richmond.com/news/local/cit…
5/12

The new #RRHA head, Damon Duncan, implemented "mixed income" housing replacement in Illinois, which is presumably what he was hired to do here
dailyherald.com/article/201602…
6/12

Duncan is using a federally funded problem (HOPE VI) that replaces public housing with mixed income developments; the idea is to stop concentrating poverty and increase government revenue en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HOPE_VI
7/12

So more rent = more income, so better for the city, right? Sure, for #RRHA budget - but this will literally and dramatically REDUCE THE HOUSING STOCK FOR LOW INCOME PEOPLE, which is supposed to be the mission of #RRHA and all public housing authorities 8/12

The mixed income model has been strongly critized for this reason and others, including destroying existing communities and social capital in favor of gentrified, segregated developments that cater to wealthy residents
citymetric.com/horizons/us-mi…
9/12

Underlying RRHA’s new direction is the same kind of thinking that some in #RVA object to in proposed #NavyHill development. Is the single goal of a city to increase revenue? What is a government for, if not to help support the city’s most vulnerable residents? 10/12

Make no mistake: #RRHA is proposing to do away with the very idea of public housing, and they are doing it under the cover of night, which suggests they know they are doing something wrong 11/12

If you think that's bad, maybe start following @LowkeyTwits
@ternary_logic
@RVANewSouth
@RichmondIWW
@RichmondTenants
@DSARichmond
[Feel free to add more in comments]

12/End

More here: rvapol.com/blog/2019/9/20…

@LowkeyTwits @ternary_logic @RVANewSouth @RichmondIWW @RichmondTenants @DSARichmond Also: more on this week's meeting from VPM: vpm.org/news/articles/…