Richmond City Council proposes stronger laws for consistency and transparency after AHTF audit

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond city councilmember Ellen Robertson is proposing stronger laws requiring consistent and increased transparency on where affordable housing money is going.

This after Richmond’s Office of the City Auditor (OCA) released an audit on Friday, Feb. 6, revealing staff did not consistently follow laws meant to steer money towards the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF).

The AHTF was designed to aid Richmond through its ongoing housing crisis by providing “consistent, predictable funding for affordable housing initiatives across the city,” as officials said on Jan. 12.

While not ideal, Robertson said it was a learning moment.

“We've learned that in order to get our legislation implemented, we need a strategic implementation strategy that will define benchmarks, timelines, exactly what we expect those outcomes to be,” Robertson said.

Robertson said councilmembers must create a standard reporting process that gives them the oversight to make sure everything is on schedule after they pass laws. 

That also gives them a chance to re-evaluate all ordinances that do not achieve the goals they have in mind.

“The auditor has shown us that there's room for more efficiency by the administration, more oversight by council,” Robertson said. “The next step that council is going to put in place, and I will certainly lead the charge, is to legislate execution plans of ordinances that are put in place.”

Robertson said it will take collaborative efforts from all city leaders to execute these ordinances, but she has confidence that they can prevent this from happening again.