NEW HANOVER COUNTY — This week county commissioners allocated $3 million to bring more affordable housing to the region.
READ MORE: 184 workforce housing units set for S. Kerr, pending funding
It’s part of a $15-million, five-year program funded with American Rescue Plan dollars, to address the region’s affordable housing crisis. 2024’s funding went to Blue Ridge Atlantic Development, the Wilmington Realtors Foundation and Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity.
Blue Ridge and Cape Fear Habitat have received money before through the program and this year were given $1.5 million and $300,000 respectively. This is Wilmington Realtors Foundation first year receiving funds, though they’ve applied previously and were denied; it was awarded $1.2 million.
“This investment will create 238 additional workforce housing units in New Hanover County,” Housing Program Manager Theo McClammy told commissioners Monday. “These units will provide a mixture of rental and home ownership opportunities.”
Blue Ridge received its full request to help build out Avenue Flats. To be located on South Kerr Avenue, the 184-unit multifamily housing development received zoning approval from the City of Wilmington last month. The city also gave the project a $4 million boost, and it was approved in August to apply for the 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits via the Wilmington Housing Authority.
The development has a 16-month construction timeline, slated to begin by summer 2025.
In fact, all projects had to fulfill certain requirements upon being chosen by the committee, made up of county planning staff and the City and County Workforce Housing Advisory.
Eleven proposals were evaluated to assess if the projects:
- Met the county’s deadline for allocation and disbursement of funds for December 2024
- Would break ground before July 2025
- Could create the highest number of units, with a mix of price points
- Met the 20-year period of affordability requirement
- Targeted the AMI of 60% – 120%
- Accepted housing choice vouchers
The 11 proposals under consideration represented around $11 million in financing needs and close to 900 units.
Blue Ridge’s Avenue Flats will bring 184 total units upon completion of its $58-million project.
Cape Fear Habitat requested a million to build 10 housing units as part of Haven Place. It wasn’t fully funded but given $300,000 to fund six new homes, as construction is now underway for the $2-million project.
Wilmington Realtors Foundation requested $1.2 million to build 48 townhomes on Carolina Beach Road as part of Pierson Pointe the total cost is slated to be $11.6 million.
The foundation also received $650,000 from the New Hanover Community Endowment for the project at the end of September. Haven Place received funds, too, from the endowment, which committed $19 million to tackle affordable housing in the region.
According to John Smist of WRF, the Pierson Pointe units will sell for $250,0000; the average home in New Hanover County retails for around $460,000. There will also be covenants mandating they be owner-occupied and kept affordable in perpetuity.
Pierson Pointe will serve workforce housing, which includes firefighters, law enforcement, teachers and the like.
Commissioner LeAnn Pierce asked McClammy if the team was keeping up with demographics on who was renting the units funded by the county’s program.
“We often talk teachers and firefighters and those type of professions — are we doing any kind of tracking … to see what the work or job demographics are, the folks that are living in these residences, to see if we’re actually hitting that target that we’re trying to get?’”
McClammy said there are quarterly compliance reports required of the recipients.
“And we do ask for demographics to ensure that the beneficiaries are in line with the AMI income range,” he added.
McClammy told commissioners in the last two years they have approved a $6-million spend to bring more than 400 units online, both new and rehabilitated projects. The program also helped 127 families with rental assistance.
Some projects that have been funded are either now online or coming soon. For instance, Estrella Landing’s 84 units received $1.2 million in 2022; 400 applications were received from renters, McClammy said. The property’s ribbon-cutting took place last month after Live Oak Bank announced it would invest $8.4 million in the form of low income housing tax credits.
Canopy Point’s 72 units were approved for $600,000 last year by the county and are 90% leased, he added, while Covenant Senior Housing, which was approved for $1.5. million in 2022, opens this fall.
Scalise asked why money was not given to projects this year for adaptive reuse, something he and Pierce said they would like to see more of.
“That would fix up a lot of the blighted properties around New Hanover County instead of a new build,” Pierce said.
McClammy responded those goals could be added to next year’s priorities.
Zapple pointed out that the $3 million invested this year would leverage more than $72.5 million in spending for more than 230 units.
“So a total three-year spend will have created 644 new units here in our community, correct?” he asked, to which McClammy confirmed. “That’s fantastic.”
Want to read more from PCD? Subscribe now and then sign up for our morning newsletter, Wilmington Wire, and get the headlines delivered to your inbox every morning.