Statements by Fred A. Neil
1,535 statements from meeting recordings, newest meeting first.
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Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Moved by Dr. Pillsbury.
Play from 00:22Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Seconded by Councilman Anderson. Any discussion? No discussion. Please pipe in your approval by saying aye.
Play from 00:24Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Any opposed? And passed unanimously. Um, the first item on the agenda, we have presentations. First is a discussion of affordable housing by Michelle Williams, Executive Director, for Center for Housing Delaware. Miss Williams, you're welcome to the podium.
Play from 00:33Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Yes.
Play from 01:52Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you, Councilman Rocha, for bringing that up. And we apologize, and that should take care of it.
Play from 02:05Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Yes, Councilman.
Play from 05:44Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Questions? If not, I have a few. Yes, uh, Councilman Sudler. Uh, Anderson.
Play from 21:22Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Councilman Rocha.
Play from 28:05Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Um, all right, Mr. Chair. And uh, this gives me a chance to Yes, uh, Councilman Anderson, do you have a comment? If not, I'll take it. Okay.
Play from 35:02Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Uh, now, I you have to make this clear for me, cuz I've been living with Alice, to the chagrin of my wife, for a long, long time. And the definitions are, for me, I mean if if I have $100,000, I can find all kinds of affordable housing. And we're talking about very specifically low-income, workforce, fixed-income, people who don't have Alice, right? Which I know very well. The problem I have, and I don't know exactly where you fit in, because you're saying that you have these tiny, small houses for rent. Is this leased land? Or is this a straight-forward uh, rental?
Play from 35:08Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
All right. Okay. Now, who owns the land? Do you own the land?
Play from 36:13Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
You're a nonprofit. Okay. Now, there is a problem that I have, and what I've seen, and nobody wants to touch it. You can create that's fairly low-income. You can borrow money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and borrow it. I live in a leased land community—
Play from 36:17Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
—Wild Meadows, and the problem is this: you can sell at any point that you want simply because you can't stop you. And that's exactly what has happened because we don't have enough housing. And you can show this. I mean, I, I've served on the task force, the legislative task force on housing, but the fact is the idea is, and a lot of these ideas that you put in is already in the mill because we have probably close to a 1,000 housing units that are going up in the city that are on the books now or coming on the books in different kinds of housing. Now, the problem is when you build this housing by a developer and they get to the point where they say, "Uh, I want out. I want I want my bundle." So even though you've gotten the money from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or any other source, and they say "I want out", what happens is the loan that the tenants are being paid off now come into the sale price and there's even higher payments that are happening to every single tenant who are now basically enslaved as long as they want to stay there—
Play from 36:31Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
—because the next sale, that money that has to go back, in addition to whatever goes to investors, goes higher.
Play from 38:03Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
So what the state has not done and refuses to do or doesn't even look at is the grassroots problem of getting affordable housing and keeping affordable housing. We can't keep affordable housing as long as this is permitted to happen step-by-step-by-step. Now, we have to do, I've made the suggestion and nobody's picked it up yet, is to do rent justification utility style. And that basically is the understanding that any developer who comes in is entitled to make a profit. But at the point that they want to sell, they're going to have to sell to someone who is going to maintain the affordable housing.
Play from 38:10Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
And that way, whether it is the members of of the community who are buying it, if it's an apartment house, becomes a condo, or if it's a leased land community, it becomes a common interest community, and they basically control their own destiny and their own money. They need professional help. That I've been studying since 2004, been here in 2000, moved here in 2003. It hasn't happened. It won't happen until that occurs. So, while the idea is nice, like to have it, basically if we permit that we've just have the Edge, that's very close to the Speedway, 216 units, that's 216 units, but who can afford it? Now, I see—
Play from 39:19Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
that they can't afford it. I think there there's no question about it. It's no secret. We all know that. It's no secret.
Play from 39:19Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
When the new box factory came here into into Dover, and I asked the uh general manager who was there, I said did you come here because of the low cost of living? And he said yeah low cost of living we didn't come here for that because your housing costs so much.
Play from 39:27Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
So obviously capitalism, if we had an overabundance would control a lot of it. We don't. We're 20,000 units short. So if Dover comes through with a thousand units, that's a thousand units less. We still have the problem. We cannot control the basis for affordable housing for the low-income, the so-called workforce income and the uh uh uh seniors who are retired on fixed income. That doesn't solve it.
Play from 39:40Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
So whether your small houses solve it as long as you remain nonprofit and are going to do it uh well, but it's still a rental. At that point, they don't have a stake in that ground. At that point to say it's mine. If it's mine, that's a different story. It becomes a whole different thing, but it's not a lot, even though you put more on the same ground. And that's where we're failing to find affordable housing for this desperately needed group.
Play from 40:07Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Okay I'm going to yield on that in case anybody wants any making any other comment. And thank you for your presentation.
Play from 41:08Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Play from 43:29Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Our, uh, next presenter is the Springboard, uh, Delaware proposal to partner with the New City Church to create a facility with shelter and wrap-around services for homeless women and children. Dwight Osborne, pastor of the New City Church, and Judson Malone, executive director of New City Church Family Village. Please come forward. Welcome, sir.
Play from 43:31Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Councilwoman Arndt.
Play from 1:04:57Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Anyone else have questions? Yes, Councilwoman Pillsbury.
Play from 1:09:58Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Uh any other questions? Yes, Councilman Anderson.
Play from 1:11:48Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Mhm.
Play from 1:12:42Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Right.
Play from 1:13:17Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Right, exactly.
Play from 1:13:42Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Yeah.
Play from 1:13:46Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Mhm.
Play from 1:13:50Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Yeah.
Play from 1:14:33Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Mhm.
Play from 1:14:42Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Mhm.
Play from 1:14:46Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Thank you. Uh Councilman Rocha.
Play from 1:15:02Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Any other questions? If not, I will take over. Um, you've got a a little bit of a problem. One of the problems is is zoning, as Councilwoman Arndt had mentioned. We did provide some leeway in one of the churches and it kind of backfired on us with literally almost the total destruction of the neighborhood around it, simply because the people that were drawn and it wasn't done. I won't say that this would happen there, but basically it is a zoning problem that is a concern because it's going to be totally different from what how that church is is zoned and the services that you're going to provide.
Play from 1:17:49Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Uh, the second thing is you have a a little competition. It hasn't come out yet, but word is that the state is very interested in the Sheraton building that now is belongs to Delaware State University for a Hope Center. The Hope Center does a kind of straight up and down, mhm, exactly what you're trying to do. And I've been there with uh Councilman Rocha, and it's a marvelous place and a marvelous setup. You may believe it or not, whether you don't think it's a problem,
Play from 1:18:18Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
And there's still a problem in terms of enforcement and the effect it has on neighborhoods. And should that go there, then having the city have to deal with what could go around, whether they like it or not, whether admitted or not, it's there. Then there's another thing we've never talked about,
Play from 1:18:38Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
and that is the cost. Your figures for Georgetown of a $7,343 basically half and half public and private. So we haven't talked about the cost. So what is the cost? What is it that...
Play from 1:18:50Mar 10, 2026, Council Committee of the Whole Meeting
Okay. So what would it cost the city in terms of... are you looking for anything from the city at all?
Play from 1:19:05