RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — On Friday, March 21, hundreds of Richmond residents began taking the next steps toward owning a home. The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) joined forces with The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) to offer resources that'll help renters become homeowners. Through their partnership, they brought the Achieve the Dream event to Richmond. The event is designed to make homeownership accessible for families in public housing. The free three-day event is being held at Virginia Union University's Living and Learning Center. The event breaks down the home-buying process into several steps that can be completed within a matter of hours. RRHA public housing residents and housing choice voucher participants have the opportunity to first attend a homebuyer workshop where they'll learn about NACA’s homeownership programs and resources. Families can also take advantage of a one-on-one session with Housing and Urban Development (HUD) certified counselors. The final step is meeting with a NACA mortgage specialist. RRHA's CEO, Steven Nesmith says this event is a step toward tackling the affordable housing crisis, by freeing up space on the waitlist which opened last week. "Right now, we have thousands of folks on our public housing waitlist who are just begging to come into public housing," Nesmith said. "If we can graduate public housing residents onto self-sufficiency and maybe homeownership, that opens up the safety net to bring those off the waiting list into public housing." This homeownership event will run through Sunday, March 23, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Walk-ins are welcome, but attendees are also encouraged to RSVP with NACA to secure a spot. ...read more read less