According to the federal report, at least 79,000 of the city’s more than 700,000 residents are “rent burdened,” which means more than 30% of their income goes toward rent due to a lack of affordable housing. The Biden administration‘s American Jobs Plan (AJP) would allocate more than $200 billion to address housing issues nationwide.
Ms. Bonds, who chairs the Housing and Executive Administration Committee, said in an email that it is “exciting to see we will have resources to increase our affordable housing supply.”
“I look forward that at a minimum 20-30% of units [will] be affordable for incomes at 60% and below Area Medium Income (AMI) to allow retail, nonprofit and service industry households to have safe sanitary and quality living environments,” Ms. Bonds said.
Fight Over Right to Work Evokes History of Richmond Unions
In this Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, file photo, Michael Foster of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union holds a sign outside an Amazon facility where labor is trying to organize workers in Bessemer, Ala. Despite the strongest public support and the most sympathetic president in years, the American labor movement just suffered a stinging defeat. Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, overwhelmingly voted against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in much-anticipated election results announced Friday, April 9. (Photo: Jay Reeves/AP Photo)
Virginia has one of the lowest union membership rates of any state. In 2020, only 4.4% of Virginia workers were union members, fifth lowest in the nation. But unions have a long history in the commonwealth, flourishing around the turn of the 20th century in industrial Richmond and the coalfields of the Southwest before union density began to fall in the 1950s.