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ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Three months after Alexandria faith congregations pledged to keep hundreds of public-housing families from eviction over back rent, the effort has raised more than $1.2 million and cleared the balances of 318 households, Mayor Alyia Gaskins told the City Council on June 23 — with about 62 percent of those families staying current on rent since.
The update marked the first public accounting of the Fresh Start Initiative, the privately funded partnership Gaskins and the Mayor's Interfaith Council announced in March to clear back rent owed by Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority residents, connect them to financial support, and require ARHA to strengthen its own systems. No taxpayer money is involved; the charitable fund is managed by ACT for Alexandria.
Ryan Belmore
From nearly 500 households to 318
At its March launch, the initiative was described as covering close to 500 ARHA households and aiming to raise about $1 million. The figures Gaskins reported June 23 were different on both counts. She said the effort began with a March ARHA work group meeting — which she and Councilman John Chapman attended — where officials heard as many as 400 families might face eviction over back rent. After working with residents to dispute and review their balances, she said, the actual number came down to 318 households.
For those 318, more than $1.2 million was raised to clear the back rent in full, Gaskins said, crediting her interfaith council — including Alfred Street Baptist Church, Shiloh Baptist Church, and Groveton Baptist Church — working alongside ARHA. Alfred Street Baptist had pledged at launch to lead the fundraising.
Where the households stand now
The picture since has been mixed. Of the 318 households, Gaskins said, 198 have paid their rent in full every month; 71 have made partial payments and are working with ARHA on payment plans; and 49 have made no payment since March and have been sent pay-or-quit notices. Some of the 49 have reached out to the city's Department of Community and Human Services and other partners for help, she said.
Altogether, Gaskins said, about 62 percent of the households have stayed current on their rent since March — a figure that tracks with the 198 households paying in full. Under the program's terms, residents who received assistance were required to remain current on rent beginning April 1, with normal lease enforcement applying if they fell behind again.
A shift toward prevention
Gaskins said ARHA has brought back its housing specialists and case managers so that every family — not only those in the Fresh Start program but across ARHA — will have a specialist who can step in earlier as balances accrue and connect residents to support programs.
A survey of why households fell behind found the leading reason was job loss or underemployment, she said. In response, the city is working with DCHS and the Workforce Development Center to connect affected residents to job opportunities and job fairs.
"I just want to thank you all for your support as I work to try and pull that together," Gaskins told colleagues, "and just excited about the people who have been helped and also the folks who have been able to stay current on their rent."
Context
The initiative launched against a backdrop of mounting housing pressure in Alexandria, where unemployment rose to 3.8 percent in 2025 amid federal workforce reductions, and where the city has lost more than 40 percent of its affordable housing over the past quarter century. ARHA residents pay federally set rents calculated as a share of household income, so the number who fell behind anyway underscored how much the economic ground had shifted. The Fresh Start Initiative was designed as a one-time effort, operating outside the city budget; its formal agreements also require ARHA to verify arrears, improve ledger management, and increase transparency.
