Crystal Towers saga continues while
fate of 200 residents remain in limbo
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
In 2018 the Housing
Authority of Winston-Sa
lem (HAWS) announced
the sale of Crystal Towers,
the 11-story building that
houses low-income senior
citizens and individuals
with disabilities, and al
most immediately people
from across the commu
nity raised concerns about
where the residents would
go. While the sale of the
building still hasn’t been
finalized, HAWS has been
busy working on ways to
relocate the 200 residents
who currently call Crystal
Towers home.
Here’s a recap of the
ongoing Crystal Towers
saga: In August of 2018,
HAWS reported that the
high rise located at 625 W.
6th Street, needed more
than $7 million in repairs
and as a result, HAWS
Board of Commissioners
voted to approve the sale
of the building. In March
of 2019, The Chronicle
reported that HAWS had
made a decision on a buy
er, but the contract had not
been signed because the
sale has to be approved
by the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Devel
opment (HUD).
When asked about
Crystal Towers earlier this
Photo by Judie Holcomb -Pack
Crystal Towers, located at 625 W. Sixth Street, is currently home to 200 residents.
week, Kevin Cheshire, ex
ecutive director of HAWS,
said they are still waiting
on approval from HUD
and that there will be ho
transfer of ownership un
til every resident has been
permanently relocated.
He said HAWS is in the
process of hiring a “mobil
ity specialist” to help resi
dents find housing.
“The biggest thing is
making sure we get a mo
bility specialist to work
with all of the Crystal resi
dents,” Cheshire said. “In
the event that the disposi
tion request is approved,
we would have our mo
bility specialist work with
all the residents in an in
tensive manner to try to
ensure that we locate com
parable alternative hous
ing. Our primary objective
first and foremost is that
nothing proceeds with re
spect to the sale until we
are 100% convinced that
100% of the Crystal Tow
ers residents have compa
rable alternative housing.”
Because Crystal Tow
ers is an income-based
property, tenants are re
quired to pay 30% of their
gross adjusted income and
HAWS provides a subsidy
for the rest of their month
ly rent. Once the sale is
finalized, residents can
either relocate to another
HAWS property or use a
housing voucher to get an
apartment on the private
market.
Cheshire said HAWS
will leverage some of the
proceeds from the sale to
create about 90 mixed-
income multifamily re
placement units in the
downtown area, including
40 that will be true re
placement units for resi
dents from Crystal Tow
ers. HAWS is expected
to repurpose the Lowery
Building (current HAWS
Central Office) for the new
units. The space is also
expected to include retail
space on the ground floor.
“It’s going to be high
ly unlikely that we’re go
ing to be able to replace
all 200 in what is currently
considered as the down-
town core, but we do think
that it’s realistic that all
200 will eventually be re
placed in what will even-
mally be considered the
downtown core,” Cheshire
continued. “We’re losing
200 hard units. Now those
individuals aren’t losing
their housing, we’re go
ing to make sure all 200
residents have housing.
But we realize that bricks
and mortar are being lost
and we’re going to try
to build back as many of
those units as possible ...
so while we’re not build
ing back 200 immediately,,
we’re building back what
we think is a critical mass
and we’re putting them
in a mixed-income envi
ronment where we’re not
warehousing low-income
families, but we’re putting
those low-income families
next to market rate resi
dents or less subsidized
See Towers on A7
New bill could add seats to city council
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
For the second time
since 2019, state lawmak
ers are looking to get a bill
passed that will add seats
to the Winston-Salem City
Council.
If House Bill 37 is
passed, two at-large seats
will be added to the city
council. Currently, the city
council operates with eight
council members who are
elected by ward and only
the mayor is elected at
large. HB 37, which was
filed by N.C. House Rep
resentative Donny Lam
beth, comes less than two
years after Lambeth filed
a similar bill that received
criticism from members of
the council and the com
munity and was later with
drawn.
Lambeth’s original bill,
HB 519, would’ve moved
three of the eight council
seats to at-large seats and
given the mayor the right
to vote in all city council
matters. The bill would’ve
also changed the way the
council fills vacancies, and
changed council member
terms from four years to
two years.
A press release is
sued from Lambeth’s of
fice after the bill was filed
said adding at-large seats
would bring city elections
“more in line with other
municipalities across the
state.” In the larger cities
across the state, includ
ing Charlotte, Raleigh,
Greensboro, and Durham,
at least two council mem ¬
www.wschronicle.com
bers are elected at large.
Before HB 519 was
tabled for a vote, Lam
beth withdrew the bill and
Mayor Allen Joines agreed
to form a non-partisan
commission to review the
best practices relative to
the structure of the city
council. Last March the
commission voted 8-1 to
recommend that the city
change to a 10-member
council with eight mem
bers elected by wards and
two elected citywide by
all voters. Kismet Loftin-
Bell, a professor at Forsyth
Tech Community College,
was the only member of
the commission to vote
against expanding.
When discussing her
decision to vote against
adding the at-large seats,
Loftin-Bell said histori
cally those seats are domi
nated by candidates with
money. Loftin-Bell, who
ran for a seat on the city
council in 2018, said can
didates vying for at-large
seats have to reach out to
more voters, which means
campaigns are more ex
pensive and essentially
more challenging for a
grassroots candidate.
“Generally, in communi
ties like Winston-Salem,
oftentimes those who hold
the wealth have the ability
to run at-large campaigns,”
Loftin-Bell said.
The commission was
tasked to look at what
different communities in
N.C. and across the coun
try are doing with their
city councils, Loftin-Bell
said after looking at all the
See City’ on A7