Multistory housing agency

Percila Criss knows a little something about the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

She knows she likes what it has to offer.

The 49-year-old nurse has lived in a public housing project, used public assistance to live in a mixed-income neighborhood and, since April, has lived in her own home, thanks to a program from the housing authority.

"It's a very good program," she said. "They have counselors who are with you every step of the way."

Criss's experience shows off most -- but, surprisingly, not all -- of the things the housing authority does.

The largest housing authority in the state, it has an annual budget of about $67 million. It operates more than 4,000 housing units and subsidizes 3,100 more.

The authority is also building and renovating single-family homes, creating mixed-used communities and doing commercial projects.

Homes are rising in Blackwell, Barton Heights, Newtowne West and half a dozen other neighborhoods around the city.

They are RRHA projects designed to replace demolished public housing with homes geared to first-time homebuyers and more expensive market-rate homes.

"Buying a house is something I have been planning to do for a while," said Criss, who had been living in an RRHA-subsidized duplex in Highland Park.

The authority provides more than entry-level housing. The half-million-dollar town houses springing up on Cary Street just west of the Virginia Commonwealth University campus have an RRHA connection, too.

The authority helped assemble the land and brought in developers to create the community. Its role isn't readily apparent -- a real estate agent in a model home wasn't aware of the connection -- but it was essential. Using its power as a city agency, RRHA could piece together the property, consider the development possibilities and find a partner to buy into that vision.

A few blocks west, a business-condo project that mixes first-floor retail space with upper-story homes also originated with the authority. The corner was once home to a convenience store, deteriorating buildings and vacant lots.

"Things have changed since the 1950s and'60s urban-renewal movement," said Anthony Scott, executive director of the RRHA. "That focused on clearing out areas.

"Now, we're trying to bring communities back, not wipe them clean." The goal is to mix income levels, so poverty levels are not concentrated in any one area.

Scott is overseeing the transformation.

While the evidence is all around town, it isn't always easy to spot.

The RRHA's most visible stamp has long been on public-housing projects. From Gilpin Court, which backs up to Interstates 64/95 downtown, to smaller, more out-of-the-way developments, the agency provides housing for nearly 10,000 people.

Scott and his staff are as serious about redevelopment and good design as they are about housing.

"Incorporating the community in the design process is a big part of determining what's best for the community," Scott said. "It's the community's community."

That hasn't always been the case in Richmond.

Richmond's redevelopment foibles include ripping apart Jackson Ward north of Broad Street in the 1950s to make way for the interstate and the razing of the Blackwell community in the past decade.

"We're being very, very transparent," Scott said. "We want to make sure we do not unfairly raise expectations."

That happened a decade ago when plans were announced to demolish 440 public-housing units in Blackwell. The plan was never to provide new housing for every family. However, it wasn't communicated well, leaving some people feeling ill toward the housing authority.

Problems this time are being addressed upfront, said Scott, who is holding monthly meetings with the tenant associations.

Expectations of what a local housing authority can do have evolved in the nearly four decades since work began in the Randolph neighborhood.

The master plan called for a mixed-use community, with apartments, condos and houses for people with a variety of income levels. Now nearly full, that's exactly what Randolph has become.

"This was not done in a day," Scott said.

But it was done according to plan, with the final development taking shape along Harrison Street as town houses rise on what for decades had been vacant lots.

Plans differ around town, from a Randolph-like mixed-use philosophy in Blackwell to the commercial approach along Cary Street.

"We're investing in communities that have lacked in investment for a long time," Scott said.

Criss can see evidence of that from her front porch.

The two-story house she purchased sits in a new development in the East End.

She took required classes that taught her homeownership responsibilities, from how to avoid predatory lenders to routine maintenance requirements once she moved in.

"They're not going to put you in a house you can't afford," she said.

"They have a whole lot of positive stuff going on," she said of the RRHA, which has been part of her life since she and her family moved into Fairfield Court when she was 12. "They have come a long way."
Contact Zachary Reid at (804) 775-8179 or .