Wilmington Mayor John Carney introduced his $212 million city budget Thursday and within it was a proposal to create a $20 million program to incentivize the construction of new housing.
The investment, he said, would be the “largest ever made with city dollars.”
If approved, almost $17 million from the fund would be available for developers who build new affordable housing, while $2 million would fund the conversion of vacant lots into accessory dwelling units and other productive uses, Carney said. The remaining dollars would pay for various design and engineering services and for the city’s home repair lottery system.
Carney delivered the budget address at Old Town Hall on Market Street, speaking before the full City Council as well as other officials. While he spoke, protesters gathered outside the building, blaring sirens and banging on pots and pans, while urging the mayor to stabilize rent prices.
In the speech, he noted that the city has added 4,000 new housing units since 2016 – 800 of which were affordable.
“It’s time to build on that progress,” he said.
The housing fund proposal comes after more than a year of debates in the city over how to provide relief to residents facing rising costs. Carney’s solution highlights an ideological divergence between his administration and a progressive bloc of council members who have been trying to enact measures that would cap how much landlords could raise rents each year, with certain exceptions.
Protesters gathered outside Old Town Hall in Wilmington on Thursday while Mayor John Carney presented his budget to the city council inside.
In a statement made after Carney’s speech, those council members called for the proposed housing fund to include other programs, including rental assistance, funding for emergency homeless shelters, and the creation of a housing trust to expand affordable rentals and support homeownership.
“The people have been clear on what they need. Now it’s time for the City Council to deliver on a budget that meets those needs,” Councilmembers Coby Owens, Shané Darby and Christian Willauer said in a joint statement.
Housing Fund details to come
Officials from the Carney administration said they will work out the specific details about the affordable housing fund in the coming weeks.
As a result, several questions are still unanswered, including whether developer incentives would be tax credits or direct grants, and whether the city would require housing developments created through the fund to make all units affordable, or just a portion them.
Carney’s spokeswoman, Caroline Klinger, did note that these sorts of programs typically provide developers with money “at the beginning of a project, as a way to attract other investment.”
Although Carney has made his budget ask, it won’t take effect unless the full Council discusses and approves its provisions.
The City Council’s budget hearings will begin on April 1, and the body is set to vote on the budget on May 21.
Beyond speaking about housing, Carney emphasized in his speech that his budget does not include a property tax increase.
Still, water and sewer rates would increase under the proposal budget by 9.95%. And at least one council member has already expressed opposition to it.
In her statement with Owens and Willauer, Darby said residents have told the council that their “utilities are out of control” — a likely reference to recent spikes in electricity bills, which the city does not control.