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Cross-government affordable housing task force sparks budget debate

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As housing costs continue to draw concerns across New Hanover County, the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners and the Wilmington City Council formed a cross-government committee this week to study the issue, though not before drawing a contrast on the approach between board members.

While commissioner Woody White said he wanted the ability to vote on any funding that a study on affordable housing may require, commissioner Jonathan Barfield Jr. said not appropriating money showed that the county wasn’t taking leadership on the issue.

The Wilmington City Council quickly approved the measure to create the task force on Tuesday, April 19 after the county’s board of commissioners had spent more time on debate to pass it on Monday, April 18. The city had already approved a similar resolution in January, which was further altered by the county staff and board.

The action creates a 14-member, six-month task force that will study housing affordability, and originally authorized the county and city to each spend up to $20,000 to fund studies on the best practices across the country, before returning to the county and city with recommendations. However, the county’s resolution requires that any spending be first approved by its board.

White expressed concerns about the $20,000 in spending, saying it shouldn’t be used on studies that relied on government support as a policy proposal.

“If it was a study on ordinance revisions or zoning as it relates to density and affordable housing, I would probably support that,” White said. “If it was a study on a model for low-interest loans and government subsidy from local governments, I wouldn’t support that. I would like to have the vote to know what we’re spending on.”

But Barfield said the county’s reluctance to fund the task force showed that it wasn’t addressing the issue as forcefully as the city, noting that a recent meeting was titled the “mayor’s roundtable” on affordable housing.

“They are taking a very strong stance. If we are going to be an equal player, we can’t tie our county manager’s hand and not fully participate,” said Barfield, who was the only commissioner to vote against the resolution. “We have an issue that we as local officials needed to address 10 years ago, not just today.”

The county also added specific representation on the task force from homebuilders, upon the request of commissioner Skip Watkins.

The task force will include members from the banking, real estate, private development, homebuilders, workforce housing and community nonprofits, as well as a representative of the Cape Fear Housing Coalition and at-large members appointed by each the city and county.

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