It took nearly a year, but the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority has finally received federal approval for its 2019-20 annual plan.

The approval comes as RRHA works to complete the 2020- 21 plan.

The approval for last year’s plan was granted July 16, but was not announced by RRHA or the U.S. Department of Hous- ing and Urban Development, which monitors public housing authorities.

Plan approval is a required element for RRHA to move forward on its long-range plans for major changes to its operations.

The housing authority has detailed plans to partner with private entities to overhaul and take management control of RRHA’s more than 3,800 apartments, with tenants receiving vouchers to live in the upgraded apartments rather than renting directly from RRHA.

The only projects that have advanced since the plan was announced involve the partial replacement of units in Creighton Court in a mixed-income development located on the site of the former Armstrong High School in the East End and the more than six-year-old effort to replace the 200 units in Fay Towers in Gilpin Court.

It is unclear why the original 2019-20 annual plan was rejected. A Free Press review of the approved plan shows little change. And the new 2020-2021 annual plan that RRHA has released for public comment appears to have almost identical wording to the 2019-20 plan.

HUD’s approval of the 2019-20 plan turned up as the result of an inquiry from Richmond resident Michael Sarahan, who has been tracking the process and first learned the plan had been rejected. RRHA later confirmed the current approved status and posted the plan on its website.