Wilmington City Council contenders address interconnected issues of housing and food security
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Five of the seven people vying for two seats on Wilmington City Council shared their thoughts on pressing issues in the community on Monday night.
The Cape Fear Housing Coalition and Cape Fear Food Council sponsored a candidate forum on affordable housing and food security at the Wilmington Branch of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
Incumbents Kevin Spears and Neil Anderson shared perspective on the topics after serving on the council themselves. Spears has served for the past four years, Anderson has served for 12 years. Both say they believe they still have work to do on the council.
“In terms of the housing piece, we’re trying every innovative little angle we can and we’re working with our development community but that’s still something that’s a work in progress,” Anderson said. “We’re going to have to keep trying to implement things we learned in other communities and try and adapt what we’ve learned so far.”
“I’m an innovative thinker. I don’t normally look at things from the same perspective as most elected officials do. I think there’s always a capacity to do things better and in a different way to get to a more sufficient solution,” Spears said.
Candidates John Lennon, Salette Andrews, and Marlowe Foster offering their insight as potential newcomers to council.
“There’s no silver bullet for the affordable housing dilemma,” Lennon said. “The other thing is I think we need to remind ourselves that it is a problem but it’s a problem based on our growth and our past successes because so many people now want to be here. So, as opposed to managing through blight, we’re managing through growth and economic opportunity.”
“People that are food insecure, people that are housing insecure, and so many different organizations coming together and working on solutions to this,” Andrews said. “I see the city government as more of a coordinator to bring these resources to people that need them and to bring people to the resources that are out there.”
“We’re talking about food insecurity and we’re talking about housing affordability. Those two issues are totally interconnected. So what we need to focus on is how we address the whole individual,” Foster said. “If someone is struggling with housing affordability, what are some of the other issues that are causing them not to have housing? Is it a mental health challenge? Is it a job training challenge? Is it not having a medical home? In turn, lots of time food insecurity also has those issues wrapped around it. So really bringing resources to bear to treat the whole person and get the whole person connected to resources that they need.”
You can watch the forum in its entirety on the Cape Fear Housing Coalition’s Facebook page.
Candidates Kathryn Bruner and David Joyner were not able to attend the forum. Their answers to the questions asked during the forum will be available online at a later date.
