The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NHRA) has reached a settlement in a case over the redevelopment of a public housing community in Norfolk, Virginia.
NRHA and the city say the agreement guarantees that all eligible Tidewater Gardens residents will be able to relocate to a housing unit in the redeveloped community if they choose to return.
They will increase the number of project-based voucher replacement units at the redeveloped Tidewater Gardens from 226 to 260, with a corresponding reduction in the number of other types of housing units on-site. The city and NRHA are also pledging to make good faith efforts to support the development of an additional 95 project-based voucher units off-site over the course of the next seven years. Tidewater Gardens residents will have a first preference for admission to the voucher units in the nearby Market Heights development.
In another move, NRHA will increase the purchasing power of the vouchers in two ZIP codes, and the city of Norfolk will enforce its previously adopted ordinance prohibiting housing discrimination based on source of income, including receipt of a Housing Choice Voucher.
The city will retain a consultant that will evaluate and advise the People First program, which provides a wide range of services, including mobility counseling and relocation support, to Tidewater Gardens residents.
“This settlement means three very important things to our community. First, it reaffirms our commitment to our Tidewater Gardens residents and the future generations of families who will grow and thrive in the redeveloped community. Second, it ratifies the vision for redevelopment created together by Tidewater Gardens residents, stakeholders, the city of Norfolk, and NRHA. Third, it’s time to move forward and focus all our attention on working to make this transformation a reality,” said NRHA executive director Ronald Jackson in a statement,
The agreement comes after nearly two years of litigation over the Tidewater Gardens Transformation project. In 2019, the city and NRHA were awarded a $30 million federal Choice Neighborhoods Initiative implementation grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Public housing residents and community groups then challenged the legitimacy of the CNI grant and the perceived impact of the redevelopment and relocation plan on Tidewater Gardens residents and low-income and minority residents.
The lawsuit argued that the plans did not provide appropriate housing for a large portion of residents who would be moved out.
Officials noted that the Tidewater Gardens Transformation Plan did not include, and still does not include, plans to demolish the Calvert Square or Young Terrace housing developments. There are no plans to demolish those developments within the next five years.
