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Residents urge council action on renovictions, school closures and housing protections
Summary
Multiple members of the public told the council they are being displaced by renovictions and asked the city to work with the Norfolk School Board and state representatives to protect housing and schools; tenants at Pelham Place described imminent moves and costly repair requirements.
Several residents used the public-comment portion of the meeting to press the Norfolk City Council on housing displacement, renovictions and school closures, and to ask for more regular coordination between city leaders and the Norfolk School Board.
Carl Poole, a Norfolk resident, urged the council to “establish a regular semi annual joint meetings with the Norfolk School Board” so the two elected bodies can work continuously on student outcomes and related city investments. "Make collaboration the rule, not the exception," he said.
Barrett Hicks, president of the Concerned Citizens Association, told the council he opposed concentrating future casino proceeds in a single school and asked the council to work with the school board to avoid closing or repurposing St. Helena Elementary. Hicks said moving students to other low-performing schools would create further problems.
Several speakers raised renovictions and tenant displacement as urgent problems. Keenan Baskerville said renovictions — landlords displacing tenants for renovations and then re-renting at higher prices — are “shameful” and asked, “At what point do we start trying to protect the people who live here from these renovictions?”
Tenant advocates also described conditions at Pelham Place. Gabe Harrell said city staff told tenants that “every single person in Pelham Place is going to have to move,” and he said tenants were being asked to absorb unusually high repair costs because the building was newly designated historic and must use more expensive materials. Harrell said several families were already forced to move.
Monet Johnson told the council she felt disheartened about the limits of local power given the state-level constraints she referenced as the Dillon Rule. “If we can't guarantee folks protection for their schools, their housing, their livelihoods [...] what can we promise them protection from?” she asked.
Misty Williams, CEO of the William A. Hunting YMCA, described plans to build a new Hunting YMCA facility at the former Tappell Park Elementary School site as part of the Saint Paul's transformation project, calling the new space “a symbol of commitment to serve our families and children for generations to come.”
Speakers asked the council to pursue state engagement on housing protections, to prioritize fair distribution of prospective casino revenues for schools and to increase transparency and regular meetings with the school board. Council members and staff heard the requests; staff and the manager emphasized the limits of city authority under state law and noted appropriation of future revenues would be a formal council decision.
