Durham's City Council held interviews with four candidates seeking to fill the West 3 council seat, with all finalists advancing to a public hearing on January 10th before a final vote scheduled for January 16th. The candidates—Amanda Bourgeois, Chelsea Cook, Sheila Huggins, and Jon Swain—largely agreed on priorities but diverged sharply on how to address them.
The housing crisis dominated the conversation. Cook, an eviction defense attorney, pointed out that Durham has the highest eviction rates since the pandemic with no current rental assistance options. Huggins advocated for job training and guaranteed income programs to help residents stay in their homes. Bourgeois pushed for public-private partnerships and walkable neighborhoods, while Swain drew inspiration from Toronto's mixed-income development model. Cook went further, directly criticizing the recently passed SCAD zoning ordinance as "developer-led" with inadequate community input, saying everyday Durham citizens weren't reflected in that decision.
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