Kelly Kenoyer

About Me

I'm a watchdog reporter and radio host for WHQR in Wilmington, NC. I've covered local government  inequality, housing, homelessness, transit, and urban planning. I'm always on the prowl for my next investigative story, and I love powerful audio storytelling.

Previous bylines: The Assembly, The New Era, Portland Mercury, Eugene Weekly, The Guardian, The Lund Report, and Willamette Week. 

Want to work together? Email me at KellyKenoyerWriter [at] gmail [dot] com.

Community Engagement

Center for Innovation & Sustainability in Local Me •

News you can use: Inside WHQR’s people-powered elections coverage

Sitting outdoors at the bus station in September, I attracted mild curiosity from those waiting for their ride: who is this lady, and will she give me some of the candy she has on that table?

It was perhaps my 10th time tabling for WHQR’s Community Agenda initiative: the alternative strategy of elections coverage that centers voter perspectives and voices. I just had one question for anyone who came up to me: What do you want city council candidates to talk about as they compete for your vote?

My Latest Work

WHQR •

Evictions have risen to their highest rate in 13 years. Housing costs are likely to blame.

After a dramatic drop during the Covid-19 pandemic's eviction moratorium, evictions in North Carolina have rebounded — and then some. Data from the North Carolina Judicial Branch shows 4,133 evictions filed in fiscal year 24/25 in New Hanover County alone — the most filed in any year since statewide data became available. Across the entire state, there were 202,861 evictions filed in that same time period.The statewide trend is particularly strong in fast-growing counties around major metros, li...
WHQR •

Invisible Homelessness: Working and unhoused in America

It’s been said before that homelessness is a housing problem, and there’s no bigger proof than the hundreds of thousands of Americans estimated to be homeless, but uncounted by the federal government.These are often people you’d never assume are homeless. They don’t fit the stereotypes, after all: they have jobs, they dress in clean clothing, they don’t sleep in the street. Instead, they crash with family or friends until they wear out their welcome, sleep in their cars, and sometimes live preca...
WHQR •

Affordable housing redevelopment of Azalea Inn gets pushback from community, councilman Kevin Spears

The proposed development would replace the old Azalea Inn on Market Street — a motel that was for many years a nuisance for the city. By right, land owners could rebuild a larger motel or other office building there — but to build a housing complex the property has to be rezoned. Notably, the rezoning vote was on the same night as a contentious ordinance impacting the homeless — so there were dozens of people in the audience with signs opposing homeless criminalization.
WHQR •

Wilmington cyclists honor the dead with annual Ride of Silence

May is National Bike Month, which aims to promote the health benefits and fun of cycling. But it’s also a time to remember those who’ve lost their lives while cycling, particularly with the Ride of Silence.Tammy Swanson is the Education Chair of the Terry Benji Bicycling Foundation, named after a local cyclist who died in a crash in 2013. The group organized this year’s Ride of Silence.“I'm taking part because I ride these roads," she said. "I'm out here. I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I'm a grandmot...
WHQR •

Driftwood Apartments reopen after three years, housing the Wilmington community's most in need

Driftwood Apartments, located on a quiet street off Princess Place Drive, were originally conceived as permanent supportive housing.The federal government program mandated affordability- capped at 30% of a resident’s income, regardless of what that income was - for 15 years. But at the end of that term, the previous owners kicked most of the tenants out and tried to sell the complex on the private market.
NPR •

Volunteers pick blueberries from a research farm for local food banks

A blueberry research farm in North Carolina can only donate — not sell — its berries, so volunteers help out by picking them for local food banks.MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST: In rural North Carolina, a research farm grows new blueberry varieties for gardeners and farmers alike. And the berries - well, they have to be harvested. Reporter Kelly Kenoyer from member station WHQR went along on a recent picking.
WHQR •

Granny Flats: The secret solution to the housing crisis

The affordable housing crisis is national in scope, but it’s uniquely painful in the South because of low wages and surging demand. So what are some creative solutions to this rapidly growing and intractable problem? Backyard cottages? Flipping hotels into rental housing? Or building out job training programs? We asked smart people in the housing space what they consider the most effective strategies to improve housing with help from the New Hanover Community Endowment.
WHQR •

How the justice system hurts, and helps, the homeless people in our community

In the past year or so in New Hanover County, we’ve seen public officials pushing back on the homeless population, even as it grows because of our housing crisis. As homeless individuals are pushed into the margins of the community, and into the woods, the justice system continues to interact with the unhoused.

On this week's episode, we’ll dig deep into the many ways the police, courts, and judges interact with the unhoused, in ways that help, and in ways that harm. It’s an exploration of the criminalization of homelessness, and the compassionate court systems that may offer a helping hand, and not just shackles.
WHQR •

Heirs' Property: How to lose a home in three generations

Dolly Rheddick-White has inherited portions of two houses in Wilmington — one from her parents on Nun Street — and one from her grandparents on 12th Street. Both couples passed away without wills, so their property was split among a host of different heirs. And both properties are currently vacant.

Earlier this year, though, an investor began buying segments of her grandparents’ property from her relatives. All told, the investor got 75% ownership of the 12th Street house.
WHQR •

Evictions have returned to pre-pandemic levels. But have tenants learned how to protect themselves?

According to data available from the North Carolina Judicial branch, landlords have filed nearly as many evictions in the last fiscal year as they did before the pandemic, in 2018 and 2019. There hasn’t been a post-covid bump, the way some advocates feared.

But one statistic has gone up- appeals. New Hanover County saw double the number of eviction appeals in the past fiscal year as it did in the fiscal year before the pandemic. Statewide the numbers are even more dramatic.
WHQR •

Dispatch: People living at MLK and Kerr homeless encampment face uncertainty after removal

I accessed the encampment by a dusty dirt road meant for maintaining power lines, just off Kerr Avenue. The open land under Duke’s powerlines is largely vacant, but the nearby wooded area hides a sprawling range of camps, dotting the woods.

Previously, people had lived there with little harassment. But renewed interest in the camp came when foliage got trimmed back.

Around the same time, a county ordinance effectively pushed many members of the downtown Wilmington homeless community off of the
WHQR •

Cape Fear Conversations: Housing and Homelessness

On today’s show, highlights from our most recent Cape Fear Conversations event, hosted by reporter Kelly Kenoyer. This is our third event, this time focusing on the issue of homelessness — looking at what factors are pushing people out of housing, what we get wrong about them and what they’re going through, and about how we might help get them back on track.

Our panelists for this event were Katrina Knight, Clayton Hammerski, Karen Garcia, Katelyn Mattox, and Pastor Meg McBride.
WHQR •

Firefighter gear is full of cancer-causing PFAS. What can be done about it?

Last year, scientists released a study showing that turnout gear — that's the clothing firefighters wear into burning buildings — is filled with PFAS. All three layers of the standard protective gear tested for high levels of the chemicals, linked to a host of cancers and other health issues. That study followed a 2020 scientific paper that showed similar results.

Given that firefighters die of cancer more than anything else in the field, the news was heart-rending.
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