Wilmington Council discussed homes deemed unfit for habitation and federal shutdown impact on HUD operations

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington City Council meetings are usually where ordinances are finances are discussed.

But it’s also where the future of properties some residents and neighbors might consider eyesores is determined.

Homes and properties deemed “unfit for human habitation” are brought before the City Council to determine whether the property should be repaired or vacated and demolished.

The city will notify owners of any violations of housing codes, with many owners dealing with the issues well before it is brought to the city council.

During Tuesday’s meeting, photos of two such homes were shown, one on Kerr Avenue and the other on 7th Street.

Erik Johnson’s grandfather built the home on 7th Street, with issues ranging from water damage to a collapsed ceiling.

“I have completely gutted the house, I have filled one, two, three, four dumpsters cleaning out this property.”

He said it’s important to save it.

“Everyone in my family has actually lived at that property, so I do want to say that that is why I have devoted my time and effort and my money to actually do the work myself to get it up to standards,” Johnson said.

Photos presented to the City Council showed trash and other issues in the home of Cynthia Mitchell, located on Kerr Ave.

Mitchell also wants her home to be a generational home.

“I want to keep my home, that’s my desire,” Mitchell said. “I want to pass it on to nieces and nephews. I don’t have a husband, I don’t have children of my own.”

During the meeting, Councilman Kevin Spears voiced his disapproval of neighbor complaints leading to these homes being brought before the council.

“There’s a neighbor in the community that has an interest in a property,” Spear said. “They see that it’s vacant. They may have the resources to do something with it. And I don’t know if we feed into their agenda by setting something like this in motion. But it is really getting problematic.”

The council gave both owners a year to repair the homes, which is much longer than the original 90 days requested by city staff.

And this wasn’t the only time housing was discussed during the meeting.

Earlier in the meeting, the director of the Wilmington Housing Authority told City Council the federal government shutdown may delay key parts of their agenda.

Housing director Tyrone Garrett said the housing authority is working on four major projects.

They will demolish and rebuild the Hillcrest and Houston Moore communities, as well as renovate existing buildings at Solomon Towers and Jervay Place.

Garrett will provide a special update on Hillcrest to city leaders next week.

He hopes the federal government shutdown will be over by then, too, because national politics have an effect on local communities.

“Because federal workers have not been on site and have not been in the office, we’re going to need some approvals from them. Let’s say we have some redevelopment deals that are not Wilmington Housing Authority’s redevelopment deals but someone in the Midwest, someone on the West Coast, or even on the East Coast and they have redevelopment deals that need to close before this year based on low income tax credits: They’re not working on those transactions at this point in time if they have a connection for HUD approval. So what I envision will happen is that we’ll be pushed back sometime where we thought we would have a first quarter 26 close — it may be second quarter 26 if this continues.”

Garrett said funding for the projects will not be impacted, just the timeline of getting final approvals from the HUD Offices.