Richmond rent, mortgage relief program paused due to ‘significant’ challenges

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A program meant to provide relief to Richmond residents who are struggling to make their rent or mortgage payments was temporarily paused at the start of the year -- but the city failed to announce the change until mid-January.

In a Jan. 14 press release, the city announced that it has temporarily suspended its "RVA Stay Gap Grant Program," a relatively new program designed to provide targeted relief to qualified residents who are facing significant rent or mortgage burdens.

The suspension went into effect on Jan. 1 -- nearly two weeks prior to this announcement.

"This pause was not appropriately relayed to key stakeholders, notably current and potential applicants," said the city's chief administrative officer (CAO), Odie Donald, II, in a Jan. 14 memo. "Despite the tremendous progress made to improve the program, not communicating changes, even changes intended to improve programming, can be challenging. Simply put, this pause was not communicated clearly to Richmonders in need. The best apology is often corrected behavior."

Richmond City Council has debated whether or not it should lower Richmond's real estate tax repeatedly over the last several years. While the council again rejected such a proposal in November 2024, it did approve the RVA Stay program.

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RVA Stay officially rolled out in 2025, offering one-time payments of $1,200 to qualifying Richmonders on a first-come, first-serve basis.

However, according to Donald, a review of RVA Stay by Mayor Danny Avula's administration uncovered "significant operational challenges," including a high number of incomplete submissions, limited staffing and manual processing constraints.

Nearly 41% of all submissions were found to lack required documentation, Donald said, which has "significantly affected processing timelines as staff must wait for applicants to provide missing information."

He added that almost 30% of all applications end up being denied because the resident is deemed ineligible.

"This pattern warrants monitoring to determine why the eligibility criteria is not operating as in line with Council’s policy goals of ensuring that individuals and households most in need of relief are able to qualify for assistance," Donald said.

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On top of that, RVA Stay had no dedicated staffers until recently. The city has since brought on three temporary staffers to process RVA Stay applications, in addition to two existing Finance employees.

As of Jan. 9, there are 1,446 unprocessed RVA Stay applications, with the average age of these submissions being 92 days. With these updated staffing levels and a set goal of 75 to 100 approvals per week, Donald said the city remains on schedule to process all of these pending applications by March 31.

"[RVA Stay] is both appropriate and needed, but many issues exist because delivering this type of service is not a core function of [the Department of] Finance," Donald said in the memo.

Donald went on to say that hiring an outside vendor to handletasks associated with RVA Stay may be wise, as it would "drastically improve the service and free up Finance staff to focus on core services."

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By pausing RVA Stay as it has, the city will be able to "make improvements aimed at strengthening program administration and improving efficiency so that financial assistance can be delivered more quickly and effectively to Richmond homeowners and renters experiencing financial hardship," according to the release.

"The singular focus of the administration is to strengthen program delivery and accountability so that, when the program returns, it is positioned to better meet the urgent needs of our residents," Donald said in his memo.

Anyone who submitted their application on or before Dec. 31, 2025 will still have their submissions reviewed, the city said.

"At the conclusion of the review period, the Department of Finance will announce next steps on the program’s reintroduction," officials said in the release. "Residents are encouraged to monitor the City’s website and social media channels for the latest information."

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