WILMINGTON — The ordinance that would cap rent increases in Wilmington failed to pass despite significant appeal from activists and tenants urging action.
Ordinance 25-016 as amended would have capped landlords to 5% increases per year or the 12-month average of the consumer price index, whichever is higher. It would have also created a Housing Stability Committee, to monitor rent control policy, collect data on housing costs and recommend long-term solutions.
The ordinance brought out dozens of people to testify during Thursday night’s hearing, including landlords with smaller investments who worried that it would force rent suppression, which could lead to an inability to pay for improvements to apartments and townhomes, thus driving down the quality.
Local landlord of 20 years Renee Spruiel argued that there were several landlords like her that had not substantially raised rents and now face more regulations that would make it impossible to keep up with rising costs.
“While I understand that small landlords are not the intended targets of this bill, we will become the unintended victims of this bill. I’ve had several investor clients call to discuss selling their rental, and 80% of the tenants who call about my rentals are looking because their landlord is selling their homes,” she said. “No good deed goes unpunished.”
Rent control measures have become increasingly more common in neighboring states as the two wealthiest counties in Maryland, Prince George’s County and Montgomery County, have recently passed local laws that would cap rent increases to 3%. But some in areas like in St. Paul, Minn., saw it passed via referendum vote, triggering 80% fewer housing units built in the previous three-year average.
Wilmington Councilwoman Shané Darby who sponsored the ordinance told the people who gathered in the council chambers Thursday night that “the state was watching us.”
“If this passes in Wilmington tonight, it will happen on the state level and that’s what they are afraid of,” she said.
As an example of how thin some Wilmingtonians are stretched when it comes to rent, Lanita Brooks told the city council that she currently pays $1,700 for a three-bedroom apartment, not including housing for her mother, since her mother’s housing was getting her sick.
“I took it upon myself to work overtime, I worked 100 hours every two weeks for me, my kids, my grandkids and my mom,” Brooks said. “We need rent stabilization. We don’t want it, we need it.”
The ordinance would require a seven-vote majority to pass, but it came in one vote shy, failing with a 6-5 vote. Councilwoman Yolanda McCoy voted present – acknowledging they were there and chose not to vote- and Councilman Chris Johnson was absent.
Darby did not respond to the Delaware Business Times’ request for comment.
Wilmington Mayor John Carney, who was against the ordinance, said in a prepared statement that affordable housing remains a priority but the approach “has to be rational, proven and sustainable.”
“Our approach is to incentivize development through zoning changes and to tie city investment to the creation of affordable units. We have and will continue to work with the Council to make these priorities a reality,” his spokesman wrote in an email to DBT.
