Advocates call for more support for Wilmington renters during Mayor Carney’s budget speech

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Wilmington Mayor John Carney delivered his budget address Thursday evening at the Old Town Hall as protesters outside chanted and banged pots and pans, demanding more housing support.

Housing investments were a big focus of Carney’s speech, but advocates and some City Council members say they want to ensure the money goes toward helping unhoused people and rent-burdened residents.

More than half of the city’s residents are renters. Local activist Shyanne Miller, progressive governance director for advocacy group Working Families Power, said the goal was to make city leaders listen to their concerns.

“Hopefully, they heard everything we said,” Miller said. “We are asking for some relief for a lot of people in the city, and renters are not getting relief. There are people living in the park. Ideally, he heard that we’re not accepting that.”

Carney’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget is $212 million, a 5.4% increase over the previous year. It increases water and sewer bills by nearly 10%, but it does not hike property taxes.

Carney said it was a close decision to reject raising property taxes because, while some residents saw massive spikes after the recent property reassessments, the city ended up with no new net revenue. He said last year’s plan to fund interior reassessments of the hardest-hit residential properties has hit a snag because of struggles to secure a vendor.

“People got tax increases last year — big ones,” he said. “And we haven’t fixed the problem, so we would have been raising their taxes again without having fixed the problem.”

New proposed housing investments

The proposal includes $20 million to the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, of which $16 million would be used for an affordable housing subsidy. Carney said it aims to incentivize private developers to build both “affordable” and “market-rate” rental units.

He also said he wants to purchase vacant properties and convert them for low- to moderate-income residents.

“It’s more than just increasing the availability of affordable units, which is important for the folks that are screaming out front, but it also lifts up the neighborhoods, because you don’t have that nuisance property anymore,” Carney said.

Miller said she’s concerned the fund will focus more on helping people buy homes than on struggling renters.

“He’s talking about neighborhood stabilization, and it doesn’t always translate into rental assistance,” she said. “It doesn’t translate into shelter building. It doesn’t translate into anything.”

Carney said the key to lowering rents and the cost of homeownership is more supply.

“We need development across the board. We need market-rate development so that we don’t have to raise taxes,” he said. “And we need subsidized … affordable units. We need them both.”

Wilmington City Council members Coby Owens, Shané Darby and Christian Willauer released a statement after the speech that pointed to the affordability agenda they released in January, which included rent stabilization, mandatory pre-rental inspections and eviction-prevention funding.

As part of the council members’ agenda, Owens is sponsoring a rental assistance funding proposal that the mayor’s office opposes.

“I think housing affordability is a key and critical thing that people across the city are looking at,” he said. “How can we get help, whether you’re a homeowner, whether you’re renting. Everyone is struggling. Everyone’s living paycheck to paycheck.”

Carney also gave an update on the city’s efforts to support Wilmington’s homeless population at Christina Park. He said they have installed bathrooms there and will soon be providing mobile showers. The city is also partnering with the Wilmington Housing Authority and the Ministry of Caring to open an additional dining hall near the park.

His recommended budget also includes $4 million to establish an “Economic Development Roundtable” to drive business development. It also funds an executive director for the newly created Office of Community Safety and adds 12 new firefighter positions.