Save Your Spot by Logging on March 1 – 29, 2024
RRHA IS PURGING ITS HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER WAITING LIST
RICHMOND, VA (February 28, 2024)—In line with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s established best practices, Virginia’s largest housing authority, Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, will conduct a purge of all of its housing waitlists. This includes public housing and public housing voucher-based waitlists, a current number of more than 100,000 persons. The primary goal is to obtain current information on interested participants and to remove those who are no longer interested in participating in the program. This includes those that have either moved, found other housing or cannot be located. To mitigate the length of the waitlist, RRHA purges its waitlist every three to 4 years. The last waitlist purge was conducted in 2020.
RRHA CEO Steven Nesmith is laser focused on minimizing the impact of the current affordable housing crisis by getting RRHA’s waitlist down to a manageable size so that the Agency can move persons off of the waitlist faster and reduce time on the wait list to no more than six months.
“Although we are not there yet, this process is an important step in that direction. Streamlining our waiting list will allow for more efficient operations,”
Steven Nesmith
In order to remain on RRHA’s housing choice voucher waitlist, current participants will need to ensure that they update their information on the Applicant portal. The whole process takes a few minutes and users are given step by step instructions to complete the process.
Applicants who do not update their information by the deadline will be removed from the waiting list. This process will eliminate duplication and make room for other families and individuals who may be interested in housing.
RRHA’s Vice President of the Housing Choice Voucher Program, Fatimah Smothers Hargrove, explains,
“When a waiting list is out of date, it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to reach applicants selected from the waiting list. RRHA wants to encourage all of our current families and individuals on the waiting list to be proactive in updating their information.”
Reasonable accommodations for those that are disabled will be made to fully utilize any of the services offered. For questions about the “Save Your Spot” platform, please contact your Assisted Housing Specialist or the Tenant Selection Office at (804) 780-4361.
For questions concerning RRHA’s waitlists, contact RRHA’s Call Center at (804) 780-4200 or toll free at 1-833-750-7742 (RRHA). You may also email the Housing Choice Voucher and Tenant Selection Office at TenantSelection@rrha.com. Emails receive a response within three business days.