WILMINGTON, N.C. (WHQR) – Wilmington Housing Authority houses tenants make 30% of the area median income or less. For a single person, that’s $22,750 a year or less. And typically, a family living at Creekwood or Houston Moore pays exactly 30% of their total income for rent.
But next year, more than 500 units will likely see their rents go up. Way up. Rather than basing the new rents on a tenant’s income, they’ll be based on the area median income, or AMI. And with so many newcomers to Wilmington making higher salaries that AMI has really gone up. Those numbers are set by HUD, based on Federal economic data.
Under the tenant income-based scheme, average rent at Creekwood is $300. They all now need to pay rent aimed at those making 40-45% of AMI. For affected units, the lowest rent will now be $975 for a 2-bedroom, so some tenants are seeing their rents double or even triple…