The Richmond Public Defender’s Office received high praise Monday night from City Council.

But the council’s recognition award for the 25 attorneys led by Tracy Paner did not come with any promise of city-paid salary supplements for the underpaid lawyers who represent 85 percent of the defendants facing jailable criminal charges.

The award to the office was issued as City Council also voted 7-2 to clear the way for a proposed development of 67 units of affordable apartments across the street from Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Jackson Ward, despite opposition from the area’s civic group and some neighbors.

Salary supplements for public defenders were not included in the budget plan for the 2021-22 fiscal year that Mayor Levar M. Stoney presented to City Council. The mayor, however, did propose an increase in the salary supplement that the city provides the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, currently led by Colette W. McEachin, who is seeking re-election.

Under Mayor Stoney’s proposal, the salary supplement for the city prosecutor’s office would grow from $4.6 million to around $5 million, adding to the money the state pays to Mrs. McEachin’s staff.

Public defenders, whose state pay averages around $53,000 year, make about 40 percent less than the prosecutors they face because of the city supplements, according to figures from the city Public Defender’s Office.

A year ago, the mayor and City Council agreed that the disparity needed to be addressed, and the proposed budget included $351,000 as a first step in providing a city supplement that was to grow to more than $1 million over three years.

But the proposed pay supplement for public defenders disappeared after COVID-19 arrived. It was among the $44 million in expenditures the council slashed before approving the 2020-21 budget that went into effect July 1. The supplement for Mrs. McEachin’s office remained largely untouched.

The council issued its regrets but indicated that the salary supplement proposal would be revisited during this year’s budget season.

It is one issue that the council is considering as it reviews the mayor’s budget plan.

Fifth District Councilwoman Stephanie A. Lynch, who proposed the recognition award, has submitted a budget amendment to equalize the pay of public defenders and prosecutors.

The Public Defender’s Office has requested the council amend the budget to provide nearly $1.1 million for salary supplements to bring their staff closer to parity with prosecutors’ pay.

In the view of the public defenders, the “unequal balance of resources in the mayor’s proposed budget undermines his claimed commitment to equity in Richmond.”

In other business, City Council approved lifting a deed restriction on a small part of a 1.5-acre block of property bounded by Cameo, Duval, Price and Jackson streets where the Better Housing Coalition plans to develop a three-story, affordable apartment complex.

BHC purchased the land from a development group that had left the property idle for 13 years.

Janis Allen, president of the Historic Jackson Ward Association, led a coalition of nearby property owners who urged that the council reject the request in a bid to force BHC to reconsider and develop affordable homes as originally envisioned for the property, or at least on a small portion of it.

Second District Councilwoman Katherine Jordan, who represents the area and had sought to negotiate a compromise since taking office in January, voted against lifting the restriction. So did 4th District Councilwoman Kristen N. Larson, who argued that the views of the community’s council representative should be respected.

Bolstered by other speakers who supported the development, the other seven council members found the idea essential to adding additional affordable housing to serve people with annual incomes ranging from $18,000 to $53,000.

Third District Councilwoman Ann-Frances Lambert said the crisis of housing affordability is all too real. “It’s like 25,000 houses are on fire at one time,” she said, in noting the city needs 25,000 suitable units with price tags that fit the budgets of teachers, police officers and other workers.

She joined others in bemoaning the rise in Richmond home prices and apartment rents that already are too high for many or are forcing households with incomes of $50,000 a year or below to spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.