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July 16 - August 5, 2021
Greater Wilmington Business Journal
wilmingtonbiz.com
| REAL ESTATE |
Affordable housing efforts progress L BY CECE NUNN ocal officials and others have taken some steps recently to address the Wilmington area’s affordable housing crisis. Recent news related to affordable housing includes an advisory group’s housing bond recommendation, a boost in funding for some city of Wilmington programs and some private dollars at work on retaining the current stock of lower-cost housing types. The City of Wilmington and New Hanover County Workforce Housing Advisory Committee has recommended that officials seek a housing bond referendum. Housing bonds are debt securities issued by governments to raise funds for the development of affordable housing. Many of North Carolina’s largest cities already have housing bonds. One of the most recent examples is an $80 million housing bond voters in Raleigh approved in November. Of that money, according to a Ra-
FILE PHOTO
Housing fix: Local rental homes in a portfolio purchased through social impact investing have been under repair.
leigh News & Observer article, $16 million is going to buy land for future affordable housing, $28 million for public-private partnerships, $24 mil-
Tell me what happened.
lion for gap financing, $6 million for first-time homebuyers and $6 million for the rehabilitation of homes. Members of the Wilmington City
Council and New Hanover County Board of Commissioners have had recent affordable housing discussions that included the idea of a $50 million housing bond. Officials have been open to the idea of a bond referendum, said Suzanne Rogers, community development and housing planner for the city and liaison to the housing committee. But county officials would have to vote on whether to move forward with a referendum that would need to be placed on the ballot of an upcoming election. The vote on going ahead with the bond referendum could happen in April or May, Rogers said. In the end, a housing bond “would ultimately be decided by the voting public,” she said. Noting the number of cities in the top 10 population-wise in the state (Wilmington is No. 8) that already have a housing bond, Rogers said, “Our peers have shown this to be an effective tool at meeting affordable
I’ll take care of what happens next.
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