‘I want a livable living situation’: Richmond tenants push for Rental Inspection Program
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Almost two years after it was proposed, Richmond residents are once again calling for a Rental Inspection Program, saying the city has made little progress on an initiative meant to hold landlords accountable and ensure safe, affordable housing.
“I don't even want a comfortable living situation — I just want a livable living situation, and that's not what my experience in Richmond has been,” said Charlotte Greene, a 6th District resident.
Greene is a member of Virginia Organizing, the grassroots organization that called a press conference the night of Monday, April 28, before heading into a city council meeting at City Hall.
During a Nov. 2023 meeting, the Department of Planning and Development Review presented a proposal for a "Residential Rental Inspection Program," meant to establish rental inspection districts in the city to promote safe, decent and sanitary housing for renters as required by Virginia law.
“It's been over two years -- a nd I'm joining people who have been fighting for it,” Greene said.
Earlier that year, the council approved RES. No. 2023-R006, which requested that the city administration develop a plan for a rental inspection program.
“We consider a rental inspection program to be a form of accountability for slumlords, making landlords answer to the same codes and regulations on which all other homeowners must abide,” said one speaker at the rally.
An Affordable Housing Rally in Richmond, held on April 27. (Photo: 8News)
In an emailed statement to 8News, a city representative wrote:
"The City's planning department is on track to bring a proposed rental inspection program before City Council later this spring and looks forward to enacting a program which will hold responsible parties accountable to maintaining safe and clean living conditions and which will protect our affordable housing inventory into the future."
Still, residents are frustrated that it has taken years to start this process. They took a letter outlining their concerns with the delay of the Rental Inspection Program to city council, themselves.
“Negligent landlords take advantage of our city's lack of supply and lack of accountability so they can increase rents while they decrease the quality of our housing,” one speaker told councilmembers.
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Residents said they are also pushing for more money to be allocated to the Family Crisis Fund, specifically to help out people facing potential evictions.
"The city needs to make room in the budget and fully fund the Family Crisis Fund," said one speaker. "The Rental Inspection Program and the Family Crisis Fund will make sure their families in Richmond, right now, are living in safe, healthy homes and have access to the resources in case of emergency."
City representatives said the proposal will be brought before city council "later this spring."
