Real Estate & Housing keeps federal programs steady while boosting neighborhood clean-team support

The Department of Real Estate and Housing presented its FY2026 budget request to the Wilmington City Finance Committee, asking for about $2.7 million in general-fund support and noting a substantial federal grant portfolio that the department administers for the city’s affordable-housing and neighborhood-stabilization work.

OMB analyst Mr. Hayford said the department requested $2,700,000 in general funds, a 3.9% increase largely driven by an administrative shift: temporary salaries rose to support mortgage-document digitization, and the neighborhood clean-team program was increased by $100,000 to reflect higher wage costs and preserve five-day-a-week work for residents earning pay through the program.

Director of Real Estate and Housing Tom Weir reviewed department priorities: increasing affordable housing supply, stabilizing neighborhoods, preserving existing housing stock, increasing homeownership and supporting service providers for low- and moderate-income residents. He said federal entitlement programs (CDBG, HOME, HOPWA and ESG) were projected unchanged from FY2025 pending federal allocations; detailed awards will be distributed after HUD and federal notices. The department emphasized that compliance requirements for federal funds have tightened and the department is working more closely with applicants before final awards rather than making awards with incomplete program readiness.

Weir described neighborhood-stabilization uses of a $2.5 million transfer from the tax stabilization reserve: $500,000 for capital and operational support to the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank and $2,000,000 earmarked for a home-repair program and alley clearance/tree removal work intended to reduce immediate neighborhood hazards and stabilize property conditions. The department summarized prior-year homeowner repair lottery rounds (73 and 74 homes assisted in earlier rounds) and said the most recent round targeted homeowners age 65 and older; those 65 addresses had been assessed and were out to bid at the time of testimony.

Other nonfederal lines include a $300,000 program for neighborhood clean teams, down-payment assistance that has produced 75 closings over two years with an average assistance of about $12,600, and continuing use of specialized software (Neighborly) to centralize subrecipient reporting. Weir said the department is “fully staffed” after several long vacancies and had zero federal audit findings in the most recent single-audit cycle. He also noted an ARPA-funded construction manager under contract to close out ARPA work and said the department would evaluate staffing needs at the end of current contract periods.

Council members asked about ways to expand homeownership, whether programs could be redesigned to consider rental assistance or other housing tools, and how the land bank and neighborhood stabilization funds will be managed and reported. Several council members urged stronger public transparency from the land bank, noting the land bank’s property inventory and public-facing listings had been incomplete. Weir said the land bank is an independent entity and that the department would continue coordination; he outlined the city’s historic support of the land bank, including fee waivers and prior annual allocations that the department provided in a chart presented to the committee.

Weir also said that if federal funding declines in future years, the department would see proportional reductions in production and services because the federal programs are the primary revenue source for many of the city’s affordable-housing activities. Council members requested follow-up on clean-team coverage areas and the potential to target demolition-related pest mitigation in neighborhoods with active demolition projects. No formal votes were taken at the hearing.