The Richmond Redevelopment Housing Authority’s freeze on public housing evictions has been extended through Jan. 31.

The extension, authorized by RRHA Chief Executive Officer Damon E. Duncan, was announced during the agency’s Board of Commissioners meeting on Dec. 16.

A news release issued later offered some details on how officials are approaching the extension and how they plan to use the extra time.

“We see this as a win-win for all involved — our residents, the agency and our community stakeholders,” Mr. Duncan stated. “The housing authority aims to prevent residents from losing their housing at all costs.”

The news release stated RRHA has held regular meetings with representatives of the Virginia Poverty Law Center, Central Virginia Legal Aid and the Legal Aid Justice Center to re-evaluate its debt collection and lease enforcement policies.

By the end of the eviction freeze, RRHA and the consortium of legal aid organizations, called the Virginia Housing Justice Project, will announce “a final plan to remediate tenant debt so that every RRHA family is returned to as close to good standing as possible,” according to the news release.

The freeze on evictions initially was announced on Nov. 8 after months of increased public outcry from housing advocates, Richmond citizens and public officials over the numbers of families living in public housing who were set to be evicted from their homes.

Before the freeze, which initially was to end Dec. 31, RRHA was on tract to serve 266 notices to residents in the six major public housing communities that they could face eviction for failure to pay their rent.

RRHA annually files about 1,900 eviction cases in Richmond General District Court involving public housing residents, according to data from the Virginia Poverty Law Center.

Daryl F. Hayott, an attorney with the VPLC, expressed satisfaction with the efforts made by the RRHA so far.

“We have enjoyed the level of cooperation that we have found at RRHA, and are heartened by the changes that the housing authority has proposed thus far related to this issue,” he stated. “We look forward to continuing this relationship for the betterment of the residents and the community as a whole.”

Omari Al-Qadaffi, an organizer with the Legal Aid Justice Center, also expressed his support for the collaboration between RRHA and housing advocacy groups, adding that he hopes the vacancies in the Creighton Court public housing community would be one of the problems resolved by the moratorium’s end.