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Tag: alyia gaskins

  • All 9 Alexandria Housing Authority commissioners resign after CEO scandal – WTOP News

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    All nine members of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board have resigned following a scandal involving the CEO.

    All nine members of the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board have resigned following a scandal involving the CEO.

    Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins, during a special city council meeting Wednesday, said eight of the members resigned by the deadline set by the city council, which was Tuesday, and the ninth resigned Wednesday.

    “When you have a system failure you need a system reset,” Gaskins said during the meeting.

    Gaskins said the council sent a letter Oct. 6 to all nine board members demanding they resign “due to serious governance failures.”

    A lawyer for eight of the board members, Ugo Colella, told The Washington Post the board members agreed to step down, but denied what he called “inflammatory allegations” from the city council.

    Gaskins said the city council lost confidence in the board because of breakdowns and failures, “and have caused us to determine that a new path and a reset is needed.”

    The resignation of the board members comes after it was discovered this summer that Housing Authority CEO Erik Johnson was living in a highly sought-after public housing unit, as those who qualified for the unit based on their income sat on a waiting list. Johnson was placed on probation in August and later fired.

    Johnson told the Alexandria-based news site ALXnow that he temporarily moved into a public housing unit in the Old Town neighborhood in July while transitioning residences.

    The Alexandria City Council has appointed six new members to the board, and plans to appoint three more soon. Gaskins said the moves are about the future, “a future that we hope is marked by accountability, greater transparency and a renewed approach to oversight.”

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Kyle Cooper

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  • Alexandria public housing director on probation after living in one of agency’s units – WTOP News

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    The head of public housing in the City of Alexandria, Virginia, has been placed on probation, after the public housing agency learned he lived in one of its units this summer.

    The head of public housing in the City of Alexandria, Virginia, has been placed on probation, after the public housing agency learned he lived in one of its units this summer.

    In a statement, the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board of Commissioners said it found out Chief Executive Officer Erik Johnson was living in one the agency’s units.

    Johnson was directed to leave the unit immediately, the statement said.

    Now, after the mayor and city council advised it to do so, the board said Johnson has been placed on probation and it is launching an independent investigation.

    “We pledge to work expeditiously, deliberately, and fairly to learn the facts, confirm appropriate accountability measures, implement any needed reforms, and to reinforce our commitment to the highest standards of governance,” the board said in a statement.

    Johnson told local news site ALXNow that he temporarily moved into a public housing unit in the Old Town neighborhood in July while transitioning residences. The Washington Post also reported the news of Johnson being placed on probation.

    “There is a huge waiting list for these units, for people who qualify by virtue of income,” said Carter Flemming, a former board member. “So for somebody who’s the CEO of ARHA to take one of those units offline, that could have been given to somebody who really deserves and needs the housing, it’s just not right.”

    In a multipage letter to the board, shared on behalf of the Alexandria City Council, Mayor Alyia Gaskins called for an investigation into Johnson’s actions and ARHA’s finances.

    Flemming said in the early 2000s, there were allegations of housing staff moving friends up the line for affordable housing units. But, actions like that “got cleaned up or stopped, if it ever happened,” she said.

    “We were on a better footing, doing large redevelopment projects and building a good reputation, and this just destroyed that, basically,” Flemming said. “Because now, justifiably, the city council and all is asking a lot of questions about how this could have happened.”

    The Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority aims to provide affordable housing for low and moderate-income residents of Alexandria, according to its mission statement.

    WTOP has reached out to Johnson for comment.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • What Alexandria mayoral candidate says is her top priority – WTOP News

    What Alexandria mayoral candidate says is her top priority – WTOP News

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    Alexandria City Council member Alyia Gaskins has declared victory in the Democratic primary race for mayor and is laying out her priorities for the city.

    City of Alexandria Democratic nominee for mayor talks with WTOP’s Nick Iannelli and Anne Kramer on her priorities once elected

    The votes for the Democratic nomination for mayor of the City of Alexandria are still being counted, but Alyia Gaskins — who’s leading her Democratic rivals with nearly 60% of the vote — has declared victory.

    On the verge of becoming the first Black woman to be the city mayor, Gaskins told WTOP in an interview on Wednesday that she was deeply humbled, filled with gratitude and “excited about the future of our city.”

    Reflecting on her win the night before Juneteenth, she said she was thinking about her daughter and how much representation matters.

    “She’ll get to see her mom and a woman who looks just like her leading and lifting up her voice to make things better for others,” Gaskins said.

    Gaskins, a city council member, has 59.4% of the vote, which is ahead of Vice Mayor Amy Jackson’s 29.9% and retired real estate developer Steven Peterson’s 10.7%, as of Wednesday afternoon.

    More than 18,500 people voted in the election among the 115,628 registered voters in the deep-blue city, and the winner of the primary is typically an indicator of general election results. Plus, Gaskins would be running unopposed.

    The Democratic candidate will replace outgoing Mayor Justin Wilson, who said in December that he will not be seeking reelection.

    Housing, failed arena deal fresh in minds of Alexandria voters

    At the top of Gaskins’ to-do list is diversifying the city’s tax base.

    Alyia Gaskins is running for mayor of Alexandria, Virginia. (Courtesy Alyia Gaskins)

    “The reality is we have a lot of challenges and needs, whether that’s housing, public safety, addressing climate change infrastructure, but we have to find new ways to pay for it,” Gaskins said.

    After Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards, reached an agreement to stay in D.C. and scrapped plans to move to the Potomac Yard neighborhood of Alexandria — a proposal strongly endorsed by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin — incumbent Mayor Wilson said the city missed the potential to “dramatically reshape its economy.”

    Critics of the arena deal said bringing the teams to Virginia would bring increased traffic on the already congested Route 1, higher taxes and the potential for an increase in crime, among other things.

    Gaskins said the city needs to find new sources of revenue. She said over the last several months that members of the community have been vocal about telling leaders what they want to see at Potomac Yard.

    “Over and over and over again, I continue to hear, it’s entertainment, it’s green space, it’s housing, it’s retail and restaurants,” Gaskins said. “The work before us is really figuring out how we bring that vision to life. If it’s not arena, then what is the right catalyst that will help spur that vision into a reality?”

    Can a big rethink of the Potomac Yard area happen in her tenure?

    “I am expecting that it will happen as part of my leadership — I know it won’t happen overnight,” Gaskins said. “We don’t own the site, but I believe that the record I’ve had of results, but also the record I’ve had of building partnerships, both in our city and across our region, will help us move it forward.”

    Gaskins was also part of the six-member city council that unanimously voted to end single-family-only zoning last November. Previously, the housing code restricted around 30% of the city’s land to be exclusively for single-family homes. YIMBYS of Northern Virginia, a group that says it advocates for affordable housing through development and denser housing, endorsed Gaskins, The Washington Post reported.

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    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Abigail Constantino

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