Wilmington Mayor John Carney announced the recipients of $8.4 million in one-time city funds to support development of new rentals and homes on Thursday.
Developers set to receive the grant money are required to sell or rent units built to people making 80% or less of the area median income. At 80% for a one-person household, that’s about an $68 thousand salary by 2026 HUD standards.
Five developers were awarded money to develop homes. Eleven got awards to build rentals.
Bob Weir, Director of the Real Estate and Housing Department for Wilmington, led decisions on which applications got money. He said the funding is meant to close the gap between what it costs to develop housing and what Wilmington residents can afford to pay.
In home building he said the city sees can see an $100 to 150 thousand gap, "between what we can sell for and what it costs to build. We’ve done in the east side with the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds."
The city received more than $55 million in ARPA money during the pandemic. It obligated $22 million to neighborhood revitalization, much of that going to housing construction and restoration on the east side.
"There are a number of properties that were costing us $300 thousand and we could sell for $190 or 200 thousand," he said. "It can be a big gap."
The grant money announced this week is conditionally awarded to the sixteen developers, who are set to create more than $300 new units in the city.
Rentals developed with the grant must be “affordable” for the next 10 years. Affordable is defined for both the home and rental projects as meeting US Housing and Urban Development affordability requirements.
Weir said with this round of funding, the city prioritized developers who were ready to build. And the grants the city offered helped developers leverage other sources for additional dollars.
The project, called the Affordable Housing Subsidy Program, comes with the support of Wilmington Mayor John Carney.
It's moving forward with the $8 million after some tension with City Council. Carney vetoed their proposal for an affordable housing fund in June. Then, city council didn’t grant Carney the full $16 million he requested for the project.
City Councilwoman Maria Cabrera participated in meetings that helped plan the grant funding. She said she plans to sponsor a second round of grant support for more developers.
