A new committee in Harrisonburg aims to improve communication between the city council and the public housing authority. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The City Council - HRHA liaison committee held its inaugural meeting on Monday afternoon. HRHA stands for the Harrisonburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The two entities have butted heads several times over the past few years – over complaints from residents and neighbors about the upkeep of their subsidized housing properties, and the fact that all of their units thus far have been concentrated in or on the edge of the Northeast neighborhood.
That’s where Mayor Deanna Reed lives.
DEANNA REED: I know at times that you all have felt like, that we have been attacking you, right? But there is such a history that comes with that … People think that, ‘oh, well that's where all the low-income people live, in that neighborhood.’ And that's what, as long as I'm sitting in this seat, we're going to dispel that.
Council member Chris Jones said the concerns he hears most often have to do with the external appearance of the units, including trash and leaf litter not being picked up.
CHRIS JONES: I would say the overriding amount of complaints have been the quote, unquote neighborly aesthetic type of complaints.
Michael Wong has led the housing authority for two decades.
MICHAEL WONG: … Really would like to invite you for a tour, and ride with me and staff so we can clearly talk through or see what the issues are that you have.
Two upcoming projects the council members do favor are renovations to the Lineweaver II apartment complex on Main Street, and a potential 900-unit, mixed housing-type project planned for an 84-acre parcel on Erickson Avenue.
