RRHA to request loan from Richmond for rent subsidies

The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority will make a public pitch today for a city loan to prop up its ailing voucher program, but the authority still doesn't know how much it will need or how it will repay the money.

Anthony Scott, the authority's chief executive officer, is scheduled to appear today before Richmond City Council to discuss a loan request of up to $1.4 million to fill a projected gap in the voucher program for subsidized rental housing of low-income families.

Last month, the authority scaled back the voucher program and withdrew the subsidy for 163 families that were on the brink of getting housing. The authority dropped the vouchers because it couldn't afford them after cutbacks in federal funding during the summer.

However, Mayor Dwight C. Jones still is trying to determine how much money the authority would need to fill a shortfall that was estimated to exceed $665,000 by Dec. 1 and $1.4 million by the end of next year.

"They're still going through the process of verifying the actual funding gap," Tammy D. Hawley, the mayor's press secretary, said last week. "Until that number is verified, a specific repayment plan won't be forthcoming."

RRHA officials confirmed that the projected shortfall is likely to be less than expected, but they haven't released a new estimate. The authority will provide updated projects to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Wednesday.

The HUD field office in Richmond isn't taking a position on the proposed loan and how it would be repaid.

"HUD is committed to helping both the city and the public-housing authority bring this situation to the best possible solution," spokeswoman Toni D. Schmiegelow said in a statement last week.

If the RRHA borrows money from the city, the authority won't be allowed to repay the money with federal voucher funds once the deficit is erased, which now is projected to happen at the end of 2012.

"The money must go directly to subsidize [rents for] landlords," Scott said in a recent interview.

Scott hopes the authority won't need any help from the city. The authority plans to apply for money that HUD recently announced may become available to housing authorities that face shortfalls that require them to drop needy families from the voucher program.

David A. Vargas, associate deputy assistant secretary for public housing and voucher programs, informed the RRHA and other vulnerable housing authorities Oct. 14 that they could apply for funding that might become available in the HUD budget for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. The deadline for applying is Nov. 6.

Vargas warned "that there is no guarantee at this time that funding will be available," or that authorities that apply will get the money they need.

RRHA also is waiting on Congress to act on a budget bill for the new fiscal year. One version of the bill includes $200 million to help housing authorities that face funding shortfalls in their voucher programs.

Different versions of the bill are pending in a conference committee between the Senate and House of Representatives, which are operating the government under a continuing resolution that expires Friday.

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or .