My Priorities
My leadership experience in affordable housing, land use, public service, and disaster recovery has prepared me to tackle the City's most pressing issues:
Community Development: No one should be left behind in our thriving City. I oppose discrimination of any kind. As I have for decades, I will work across political divides to find common sense solutions for unmet needs.
Housing Affordability: Housing is the foundation for everything else in life. I will bring together different perspectives to lead our community toward a better future, where we can all find and remain in a safe, affordable home.
Green Infrastructure: Our unique coastal natural resources enrich our community. I will preserve our trees and green space for stormwater management, public health, and -of course- recreation!
SPECIFICALLY...
Community Development
We are blessed to live in a beautiful, thriving city. Wilmington is among the top ten fastest-growing metro areas in the US! But not everyone is experiencing the same level of wellness and prosperity.
I am committed to developing policies and delivering services that honor and uplift every person and I strongly oppose discrimination of any kind. Every Wilmingtonian should feel safe, believe they can realize their educational and career goals, and have access to healthy food, healthcare, and recreational space.
As the federal government slashes critical assistance programs, local governments will be left to pick up the pieces. I have decades of leadership experience identifying unmet needs and creating efficient, common-sense ways to address them. Because housing intersects every issue from health to disaster response to economic development, I have worked with leaders in all these areas and am committed to doing our very best to help those who fall between the cracks.
It’s not controversial to say that people who have lived here for generations deserve to be able to stay, instead of being deeply cost-burdened or forced out of our community altogether. I pledge to bring innovative solutions that are right-sized for Wilmington. City Council will soon be updating the 2016 Comprehensive Plan, which guides all development policies. This process needs leaders with a deep practical understanding of the issues and a technical understanding of development processes to evaluate competing priorities combined with a commitment to act in the best interest of all Wilmingtonians.
Green Infrastructure
Designated a Tree City USA in 2002, Wilmington’s tree canopy has been decreasing by about 1% per year for the past six years. Trees and green space increase our resilience to storms, enhance our quality of life, and clean our air and water.
The City has made some important investments in green spaces that we all enjoy. As we continue to grow, we need to be more aggressive in preserving and increasing green infrastructure. In 2022, the City Council commissioned an Urban Forestry Master Plan. The strategies to steward our City’s trees are laid out before us, and I’ll bring the political will to invest in them.
The street tree inventory was limited to the 1945 Corporate Limits due to budget concerns and yet the study found 96% of our community agrees that having trees is worth the financial cost of maintaining them. I’ll ensure the resources are allocated to move this plan forward in ways that leverage private resources, strengthen partnerships with nonprofits, and celebrate our residents’ love of nature.
Housing Affordability
In our community, a household must earn $63,000+ to afford a 2-bedroom market rate apartment. That is out of reach for many essential workers in public service, childcare, education, and hospitality – people we rely on every day.
This crisis is nationwide and has developed over generations of unjust zoning and banking laws, workforce shortages, and inflation. It will take all of us to make a dent in it. The following three strategies are recommended in The Affordable City by Shane Philips.
● Stability: supportive services help families get in and stay in safe homes.
● Supply: simply building more homes is critical; it doesn’t matter how effective our social service programs are if there are just not enough homes for everyone who lives here.
● Subsidy: providing housing at below market rates – by definition – will always require financial help from philanthropy or government sources.
I have dedicated the past two decades of my career to putting stable, safe, affordable housing back within reach for our neighbors.
I worked on stability and supply at WARM NC to offer substantial repairs for homeowners who couldn’t afford them. Homeownership is the primary way out of poverty, and preserving housing that low-income families bought on their own is the most efficient way to address the supply problem. During my 15 years at the helm of WARM NC, we helped over 2,000 families stay in their homes.
In 2018, I was appointed by the General Assembly to the board that oversees the NC Housing Trust Fund, making difficult decisions about how and where millions of state subsidies are invested. My current role in affordable housing development with Wesley CDC requires careful stewardship of government subsidies such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and rental assistance vouchers for seniors and families.
Wilmington has the need, the resources, and the talent to create and manage our own housing investments, and to build on the existing housing programs within the City that make a difference every day for hundreds of Wilmingtonians.
