Affordable-housing residents in Winston-Salem told to move out indefinitely so city can do an ‘assessment’

by Gale Melcher

The Winston-Salem City Council meeting drew a full house on Monday evening.

“I would surmise that most of us here know why a lot of you are here,” Mayor Pro Tem Adams said. “We’re glad to see you.”

Residents of two apartment complexes at 1200 Willie Davis Drive and 1635 N. Cleveland Ave. who were ordered by the city to vacate their homes by May 31 gathered in the council chambers. In addition to the residents, community members and local activists lined the rows in anticipation, ready to voice their concerns during the public comment period.

Both apartment complexes are more than 50 years old and the city-owned buildings have not undergone significant repairs or updates in about 30 years. The city has determined that a comprehensive assessment of the buildings needs to be conducted, but in order to do so, tenants were told they must temporarily vacate the premises by May 31. The city said that they are committed to offering 90-day rent forbearance. Tenants will not owe rent payments between March 1 and May 31. The city will also cover moving expenses including trucks and labor. The city has also offered rent differential for 24 months or until the buildings are rehabilitated, paying the difference between the residents’ current rent amount and their new rent amount — up to $385 per month for residents at the six-unit building on 1200 Willie Davis Drive and up to $519 per month for those living in the four-unit building on 1635 N. Cleveland Ave.

In a presentation during the meeting, Assistant City Manager Patrice Toney said that renovations are expected to occur inside and outside these units.

“The goal would be to renovate above the current minimum housing standards,” Toney said, adding that the renovation correlates with the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative in terms of the design and appearance of the units.

One of the speakers during Monday’s meeting was Cynthia Herson, a resident of 1200 Willie Davis Drive.

“If you put us out of somewhere, and you give us your little stipend of $385 for two years, it still makes us homeless,” Herson said. “We [are] in affordable housing, why take us out? Why should we have to move out just for you to do a complete assessment?”

The city has not released a timeline for when the assessment and subsequent repairs will be completed.

Asks for repairs leads to displacement

Apress release by the Winston-Salem-based group Housing Justice

Now states that residents of 1200 Willie Davis Drive asked the property manager to repair the outdoor stairs back in October 2022. The statement says that when the property manager asked the city to assist with this expense, city officials said that they were unaware it was city-owned property and ordered residents to vacate the property to complete a “full assessment of the building.”

On Wednesday afternoon, resident of 1200 Willie Davis Drive Carol Boykins told TCB that the stairs were repaired earlier that day. “All we asked in October was for these stairs to be fixed, we didn’t ask for no other problems or nothing like that,” said.

Boykins said that the stairs had a “split going down the middle…. It rusted out.”