A joint subcomittee of commissioners and council members listens to concerns from members of the Workforce Housing Advisory Committee. (Port City Daily photo/Alexandria Sands)
NEW HANOVER COUNTY â New Hanover County commissioners and Wilmington city councilors vowed before developers and nonprofit leaders to actually tackle the areaâs affordable housing crisis in what was largely a brainstorming session Wednesday morning.
A lack of affordable housing has been a conversation in the county for years, but at heightened levels most recently, as council member Charlie Rivenbark pointed out.
âIâm so damn frustrated,â Rivenbark said. âHere we are in 2021, and weâre still talking about the same thing . . . But when I leave here today, I want to have a plan that we are going to work on.â
Ms. Cecile Keaton Bryant and Ms. Earnestine Keaton on their family farm.
It’s hard enough to keep a small family farm going. But add to that the challenges of systemic and environmental racism and the Keatons’ accomplishment becomes even less likely. But it’s their commitment to keeping their land, farming it, and teaching the next generation that has protected their family legacy.
Less than 30 miles inland from the coast, in rural, southeastern North Carolina, there sits a 40-acre tract of land that has been in the Keaton family for generations. The ancestral connection goes back more than a century, to a time when their great-great-grandparents left slavery behind.
Community Spotlight: MedNorth works in marginalized communities to ensure health care for all WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Minorities seem to be falling behind when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout but a nonprofit healthcare provider is working to make sure they donât miss their chance. (Source: WECT) By Kassie Simmons | May 13, 2021 at 2:00 PM EDT - Updated May 13 at 2:20 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Minorities seem to be falling behind when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine roll out but a nonprofit healthcare provider is working to make sure they donât miss their chance.
MedNorth isnât your average primary healthcare provider theyâre much more.
• Amanda Miars, a corporate and estate planning attorney with Murchison, Taylor & Gibson.
• Alighiery Ali Mendoza, senior study start up and regulatory specialist with Syneos Health – Genentech Roche.
• Mark Moroz, executive vice president, lead of product at Live Oak Bank.
• Katrina Redmon, CEO of Wilmington’s Housing Authority.
Also Todd Godbey, CEO, who has served at the helm of the Academy since its founding and continues to shepherd the organizations’ growth, was recently appointed to the North Carolina Charter School Advisory Board.
As an advisory board member, Godbey will consider state rules guiding all aspects of charter school operations, including standards and criteria for acceptance and approval of applications, monitoring of charter schools, and renewal or revocation of charters.
Listen to the story here.
In the Cape Fear Region, there aren’t many ways to get affordable units on the ground. But there is one federal program, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), that has.
What’s LIHTC & How Does It Work?
The Reagan-era initiative, run by the Internal Revenue Service, has been around since 1987. Since then, Wilmington developers have used the tax credits for about 43 rental projects, putting into service over 1,900 affordable units.
Here is a map of more recent LIHTC projects. Some critics of the program argue that these can be concentrated in one geographic location.
Credit Rachel Keith