WHA purchased Robert S. Jervay Place and several related properties from Telesis Corporation late last year. Parts of the property were rendered uninhabitable by Hurricane Florence.
In the midst of the purchase, WHA discovered a $660,000 operating deficit. The Authority asked Wilmington City Council to loan it the money, to be repaid within 180 days.
Council voted unanimously to approve the deal, but not before asking CEO Tyrone Garrett where this debt came from. He said it was from property managers failing to send WHA proper invoices.
“When we pick up those properties, we find out there there's a few invoices left in the in the drawer before us, and what we've been doing is trying to pay those that someone left for us,” he said, adding that next steps for the property will include demolishing 18 units, and replacing them with about 50 apartments. Another 23 units will be rehabilitated, some of them on a month-long turnaround.
WHA Board Chair Jeff Hovis told city council that operating Jervay with property managers was very frustrating because they lacked control over the operations. "The way it's been handled is just not acceptable, and I'm glad we can bring it back into our house and get it back the way it should be.”
WHA’s purchase will put this property back under local control, and will eventually increase the number of public housing units in the city.
City Council also heard a presentation from Housing & Neighborhood Services Director Rachel Schuler about the city’s affordable housing fund balance.
The program takes 1 cent of the city’s taxes and puts it towards an affordable housing fund. Council recently capped the balance of that fund at 2.5 times that value, which is currently $5.7 million.
City Councilmember Luke Waddell has previously voiced concern about the high balance, and Schuler clarified that the current coffers are at about $4.8 million, which is below the cap. Much of that money is already obligated to specific projects, and there’s even more in the pipeline including the WHA loan city council voted in favor of during the Tuesday morning meeting.
Schuler said $5.8 million has already been obligated from the fund, and there’s another $5.3 million in the pipeline for various projects and programs. She added that each dollar the city invests in affordable housing has been matched with $9 in funding from other sources.
“This fiscal year alone, an investment of around $11 million will be made if all the projects move forward for the creation and preservation of about 438 units,” Schuler said.
Mayor Bill Saffo pointed out that the city has invested $28 million since 2022, which leveraged $210 million from other sources, and has already created or preserved 622 units of housing. “Great job. Great job, everybody,” he said.
