Housing advocates say they feel misled by Richmond’s top housing official after the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority initiated eviction proceedings against tenants with small rent debts. The confusion stems from remarks made by RRHA Chief Executive Officer Steven Nesmith during a July 8 meeting of the authority’s real estate development committee. Asked by committee members about the RRHA’s eviction policies and practices, Nesmith said he was working to avoid evicting residents who owe less than $5,000 in unpaid rent. But court records show that, roughly a month before Nesmith gave those remarks, the RRHA filed unlawful detainers against at least seven residents who owed less than $5,000 across the authority’s six largest housing projects.

American citizens have the right to request access to records from any government agency through a federal law. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) promotes transparency and holds government agencies accountable. But getting records could take months and, in some cases, years. We’ve been waiting years for many requests,” Rachel O’Brien, who is the deputy public policy editor for Openthebooks.com, told the National News Desks Jan Jeffcoat during a one-on-one interview Friday. “So, we looked at how long everyone else is waiting.” O’Brien said she and her team learned that as of 2024 the average time to produce records following a request that is considered complex is 267 business days.

To this day, NIH’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) portal says hospitals, research institutions, healthcare companies, and medical professionals whose records are subject to information requests “remain severely affected by the pandemic” and “require additional time to respond.” NIH records officers may also need more time to review and approve redactions, the agency says.