Despite urgent problems, Norfolk housing authority leaders say they are struggling to respond to the maintenance issues because of actions by the administration of former NRHA Executive Director Nathan Simms, who was quietly fired by the organization’s board of directors in November. According to a Virginian-Pilot investigation, Simms laid off 24 internal maintenance personnel at the housing authority during his tenure, from October 2023 to November 2025. He also replaced some of the services for unit turnaround — cleaning units between residents — with absent sole-source contractors, said Earl Fraley, chair of the housing authority’s board of commissioners. … During a special-called board meeting Thursday, members approved the use of $5 million in unrestricted NRHA funding to accelerate the repairs and renovations at Young Terrace. … During Simms’ two years in Norfolk, 37 people were laid off from the housing authority, according to a Freedom of Information Act request. Maintenance workers made up 24 of those firings.

A yearlong push to have Russell County’s financial records audited amid questions of possible irregularities is back on the agenda for the county board of supervisors’ Monday meeting. In May 2025, Supervisors Nathan Kiser and Tara Dye began calling for a forensic audit, which would examine financial records for possible evidence of fraud or misconduct. Among the matters they want investigated are the county public service authority’s billing and fee collection practices and the dissolution of the Dante Volunteer Fire Department. But County Administrator Lonzo Lester and several other supervisors assert that there has been no wrongdoing and that some people in the community are stirring up rumors without any evidence.