While city and county leaders agree that homelessness is a problem, they aren’t ready for a concrete proposal to address the issue just yet. Instead, they’d like to collaborate with more local organizations that are actively working to help those who are homeless as they develop a plan of action.
At a joint meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 7, the Wilmington City Council and the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners heard from Thom Moton, the city of Wilmington’s deputy city manager, about a proposal for a 29-person task force to address the local homeless community.
Moton pointed out the significant amount of people in the county living below what is considered “low or very low income.” According to Moton, 53% of renters in the county are house-cost burdened, while those that own homes have a 23% house-cost burden.
The changes that have occurred in the housing market over five years include a 51% increase in fair market rent. Over the past year, fair market rent increased by 20%.
“We know that [hurricane] Florence had an impact on inventory and then the pandemic certainly exacerbated some of the conditions that our community was struggling with,” Moton said. “The North Carolina Housing Coalition ranked 30th in terms of persons challenged with meeting the cost of living.”