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Wilmington council urges pause to Christina Park eviction, adopts housing trust ordinance
Summary
After hours of public comment urging a ‘humane transition’ for Christina Park residents, Wilmington City Council unanimously adopted a resolution asking the administration to halt a June 15 eviction and later passed an Affordable Housing Trust ordinance to fund long-term housing efforts.
Councilwoman Darby presented a nonbinding resolution asking the Carney administration to halt a planned June 15 eviction of residents at Christina Park and to produce a comprehensive transition plan, and the council adopted it by roll call. The vote was recorded as nine yays and four absent. "I believe that we have to have a plan in place that is comprehensive, humane, and adequate in their transition," Darby said when she introduced the resolution, which also asks the mayor to create a senior-level homelessness response coordinator.
The resolution followed more than an hour of public comment in which residents, volunteers and homelessness advocates urged the council to oppose forced displacement without confirmed housing alternatives. "If these people cannot sleep outside or sleep in the park, then where are they going to go?" asked Kim Valo, a former Wilmington resident who said she is appealing to the council’s "better angels." Volunteers and residents repeatedly cited limited shelter capacity, barriers posed by pets and disabilities, and what they described as incomplete outreach by the administration.
Later in the meeting councilors took up Substitute No. 2 to Ordinance 26-019, creating an Affordable Housing Trust governed by a community advisory board and authorizing funding pathways such as developer contributions, budget transfers and grant dollars. The sponsor described the trust as both a funding vehicle and an oversight mechanism that would require recommended projects to come to council for approval. After a short floor amendment to clarify wording and membership thresholds, the substitute ordinance passed by roll call (seven yays, two nays, four absent).
Penrose Holland, a Newcastle County council member invited to the meeting, addressed the council earlier in the evening and urged long-term housing investments; sponsors cited his county trust as a local precedent for the city plan. Supporters said the trust will let the city pool multiple revenue sources — future inclusionary zoning fees, budget allocations and grants — into a single fund with community input on how projects are prioritized.
What happens next: the resolution is nonbinding and directs the mayor to provide a written transition timeline, stand up a homelessness coordinator post and coordinate with nonprofits and the county on shelter and supportive housing pathways. The trust ordinance establishes the board and the process for recommending projects and will require future council action to allocate specific funding sources into the new trust.
