A new city audit found Richmond didn’t always follow funding rules in city code for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund — and, as a result, money meant to go towards the ongoing housing crisis officials declared three years ago didn’t.
Richmond’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, established in 2004, aims to boost affordable housing growth by giving loans and grants to developers. The city has had two revenue streams for the trust fund over recent years: real estate tax abatement money since July 2021 and revenue from delinquent properties it sold starting July 2019.
The finance director was required to put money from those two streams into a special reserve for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. But the report from City Auditor Riad Ali, done at the request of city council, found money barely made it into the special reserve — and never went to the trust fund until recent actions by the city…