Council gives green light to affordable housing community

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington’s city council had quite an audience tonight as folks packed inside City Hall to voice their concerns about a new affordable housing project behind Legion Stadium. Council gave the project the green light tonight and not everyone is happy about that.

The affordable housing facility would be run by the Good Shepherd Center. They also run homeless shelters in the area but say this facility will be a far cry from that.

The idea behind the proposed facility would be to house disabled or disadvantaged folks who cannot afford an apartment at market rate.

The housing center would be on the site of the old Rhodes Center just behind Legion Stadium.

One by one folks got up to ask council not to rezone the property but council decided to vote in favor of the facility.

“Thankfully before too long the thing will be developed and we will be able to show first-hand and people can see first-hand and that its being managed well and that we are very quiet neighbors to them,” said Katrina Knight with the Good Shepherd Center.

“I will and my neighbors will all be watching this extremely closely,” said Chuck Carter who lives close to the site. “And make sure that if there is any problems they are going to be reported immediately. We are not going to tolerate trouble in that neighborhood.”

The facility will be run by, and the folks who live there, screened by staff from the Good Shepherd Center. The center will also provide services to tenants there such as transportation and other assistive services. As of now there isn’t a set date for when the project will be complete.