Mayor Alyia Gaskins launched the “Fresh Start Initiative” today (Thursday), pledging alongside the city’s faith and nonprofit leaders to pay approximately $1 million in back rent for nearly 450 residents living in the city’s public housing properties.
The initiative brings together the city, the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority, the Department of Community and Human Services and nonprofit fundraiser ACT for Alexandria to create a charitable fund to “connect residents to financial empowerment resources, and to ensure improved systems at ARHA,” according to the city. Alfred Street Baptist Church has pledged to raise more than $1 million to cover the back rent.
After ARHA representatives told the mayor about the $1 million backlog two months ago, Gaskins told ALXnow that she prayed for guidance. Days later, she says she took the issue to her Mayor’s Interfaith Council, which includes a number of the city’s faith leaders. She said that Rev. Howard-John Wesley of Alfred Street Baptist Church was the first person to take her call and pledged to raise the entire sum…