ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority told City Council on Thursday night that keeping its public housing in habitable condition will cost $54.5 million over the next 20 years, roughly $20 million more than it expects to have, and asked to be written into the city's capital budget.

"We're not going to be able to improve the stock at ARHA if we don't address this," Mayor Alyia Gaskins said, calling it the biggest takeaway of the two-hour work session. She asked the city manager to add 30 minutes on ARHA's capital needs to Council's budget work session Nov. 7.

The session at the Del Pepper Community Resource Center was a one-year check on the board Council installed last October, after eight of nine commissioners resigned under pressure from Council. It ran from 7:03 p.m. to 9, half an hour past its scheduled end.