According to our community agenda survey, Affordable Housing is neck and neck with Development for a top concern in the city of Wilmington, and it’s one city council has a major stake in.
The city has invested $50 million in affordable housing over the last 20+ years. That often comes in the form of gap financing for low-income housing tax credit projects. There are other methods too, such as funding nonprofit developments like Eden Village.
Council can also make zoning trade-offs with developers, where a developer can build a denser project if they include a certain number of affordable units.
Here are some of the concerns we heard about housing affordability:
- “Do they really believe that workforce housing can be made available with [anything] other than multi-family development?”
- “People in poverty become homeless, lose their shelter, then go to jail. They should shelter people and give them opportunities like NYC.”
- “Lack of affordable housing and companies purchasing property to rent for exorbitant amounts.”
It’s worth noting that some solutions are out of the city’s hands, like rent control and controls on short-term rentals. Those both would have been taken to the state level by legislative action.
We interviewed several residents about their housing cost concerns. Alexis is a millennial who's been in Wilmington since 2014, and married a Wilmington native. The couple moved into an older apartment two years ago.
“Our rent has jumped up 40% since we first moved in, and that apartment complex was built in the 50s, I think. We have to sign a lead addendum," Alexis said.
That rent hike is actually below average: median rent has increased 53% in the past two years, according to county data. Alexis feels trapped between a rock and a hard place. She and her husband dreamed of buying a home, as educated 20-somethings, but she’s watched former starter homes in the region getting turned into AirBNBs.
“I understand that, yes, it is more profitable to rent out versus to just sell the house. But it's just becoming really frustrating, not being able to pay to just live," Alexis said.
She’s looked for more affordable places to live, but the nearest is Jacksonville — at least an hour away. Working in Wilmington with that long commute would be tough and expensive, not to mention adding to traffic.
Another respondent, Jackie Anderson, is a former teacher and has lived in Wilmington for years.
“I'm lucky I bought my house before the prices went up," she said. "Even just a teacher on a teacher salary, they struggle. And I'm so glad I'm not paying rent.t, because teachers even struggled to pay rent, especially if they have kids.”
Even though she’s established in Wilmington, she worries about the families who are being driven out by gentrification.
“I think that we need to be willing to let apartment buildings develop and get developed in the city, because they are a natural part of the community," she explained. "People have to have a place to live.”
Loretta Stackhouse is a longtime resident of Wilmington who left after graduating in the 1970s, and came back in the 1990s. She’s concerned that working people can’t afford to live here without a roommate.
“They cannot afford an apartment in Wilmington. They can't afford to purchase a house in Wilmington," she said of the young people she meets in the community. "Some of them are lifetime here, some of them have moved here. But they ought to be able to work 40 hours a week, and make a wage that would cover living and eating.”
She wants to see the city mandate more affordable apartments in the large new developments. But she does wish the new construction, both apartments and houses, was more aesthetically pleasing.
“No design. It's like where's the architecture in this? None. Four walls a window and roof," she said.
What do you think candidates should talk about as they compete for votes in the upcoming city council election? Tell us, by filling out the Community Agenda survey.
