By Hannah Shiblaq | hshiblaq@alextimes.com
Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority Interim CEO Roy Priest revealed the agency’s projected $54.5 million capital need over 20 years and asked for it to be included in the city’s budget, at an Oct. 29 joint work session with City Council.
“The agency has got to determine how it’s going to operate and stay stable with reduced funding,” Priest said, adding that he sought the city’s “consideration of … a fund” to support ARHA’s redevelopment work.
The meeting’s accompanying 30-page power point presentation showed that by 2031, ARHA anticipates a capital need of $11.1 million, which, when considering the $4.9 million Capital Fund available, accounts for a $6.2 million funding gap.
The Capital Fund, according to HUD’s website, annually provides funds to housing agencies “for the development, financing, and modernization of public housing developments and for management improvements.”
“Identified need exceeds what the federal Capital Fund can provide,” the presenta-tion read.
It also stated that the estimated need over 20 years would be $54.5 million.
Priest added that, on the day of the meeting, he received a notice from the assistant secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development – from which ARHA receives a portion of its funding – stating that HUD would cease the issuance of new vouchers. He said the notice was “sent to every executive director around the country.”
Priest said that because of these restrictions, HUD advised agencies like ARHA “to really begin to restrict what they are doing in this area and only operate within the budget that they have available to them”; these restrictions include ceasing the issuance of new vouchers.
Priest said he was “shocked” by this development.
“[The Housing Choice Voucher Program] is the lifeblood for so many families,” he said. “And … we serve more families with the Housing Choice Voucher Program than we do for Public Housing.”
Mayor Alyia Gaskins said that while City Council would add ARHA’s financial presentation to its budget work session Saturday, the city is “never going to fill the place of HUD.”
“Even if we find a way to get some of this in our capital, we’re never going to make it up,” Gaskins said. “The city just will never have that much money.”
Gaskins mentioned the possibility of a “federal advocacy strategy” by working with federal lobbyists to elevate the issue to senators and congressmen.
The session served as a one-year check-in following City Council’s appointment of an entirely new Board of Commissioners at an emergency City Council meeting on Oct. 15, 2025.
At that meeting, Gaskins outlined 10 renewed demands for ARHA’s Board – all of which the agency addressed on Oct. 29, providing both “actions to date” and “next steps” for each, in the meeting’s accompanying power point presentation.
At the meeting’s conclusion, Gaskins outlined a series of follow-ups City Council wished to see, which included an overview of ARHA’s inspections of properties, various attempts from ARHA to improve communication with its tenants, a pie chart breakdown of the agency’s funding, briefing on the real estate accounting software Yardi and any possible opportunities for services shared between ARHA and the City.
“I was going back and watching the video from where we were a year ago, and I think one of the things I said there was … when systems fail, you need to create new systems,” she said. “I know this isn’t easy work. I know we still have a lot more to do.”
(Read more: City Council appoints new ARHA Board, outlines new demands)
The post ARHA projects $54.5 million need over 20 years appeared first on Alexandria Times.
