Wilmington Housing Authority addresses rent increase policy
NEW HANOVER COUNTY (WWAY) — The Wilmington Housing Authority met Tuesday afternoon to clarify a new policy regarding rent increases.
“It was interesting when I got the email from the state, and it just came yesterday,” said Tyrone Garrett.
Executive Director Tyrone Garrett is talking about a communiqué about the touchy subject of rent hikes, one of the topics of conversation at Tuesday’s meeting.
“There are pieces to this puzzle, you know, the way this thing is put together, or created, or faked, or however you want to put it, that some people might not necessarily understand,” said Garrett.
Residents at the Creekwood South apartments got some unhappy news before Christmas, a notification of a potential increase in rent.
This would be based not on individual income, but on the area median income, or AMI.
With the influx of people moving to the area, the AMI is much higher than a traditional tenant’s income, potentially doubling, or tripling their rent for the next lease term.
138 units in the neighborhood will be shifted to the new AMI based rent.
Staff of the WHA told WWAY that, at the time, the change was open-ended, and nothing was solidified.
Then, on Tuesday, the executive director refused our request for an interview, claiming we had only one side of the story and that they are a mission-based organization, simply trying to house people.
However, while the executive director was mum, the authority did release a flyer today addressing several pressing questions.
The tenants not affected by the shift will go through the compliance and recertification review.
It will take place over the next 14 months; each unit will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, no family will be displaced during this process, and no household will be required to pay more than 30% of the household income.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Wilmington Housing Authority executive director told his colleagues that quote “138 families are going to be impacted in a different way.”
