CHAPTER 3: HOUSING

Durham County residents repeatedly cited housing as an important issue for them as a community. In particular, they described the challenges of rising rental costs, home ownership, and the effects on families that are forced by economic need to move often. They discussed a variety of efforts currently in place in Durham County to increase home ownership and expressed mixed feelings about the effectiveness of those programs. There were also a number of people who were concerned about the needs of public housing residents. It is important to note that the vast majority of concerns expressed about housing came from community members rather than service providers.

Most comments related to housing referred to neighborhoods in downtown Durham and North/East Central Durham. Of downtown Durham, people wanted to see more positive development and described recent efforts to convert old buildings to living spaces. However, one community member felt that there were too many regulatory barriers to development of this area, saying, "I've wanted to develop housing downtown…the government is so onerous on the requirements they have…basically it's a 25, 30% tax… they said, 'This is code.'"

As mentioned in the section on economics in the first part of this document, only 53% of Durham County residents live in owner-occupied households, compared to 68% in the state of North Carolina as a whole. Forty-seven percent live in renter-occupied households (U.S. Census Bureau, 1990). Average rental rates in Durham County range from $346 per month to $677 per month, depending on the area of the county. Houses range in average value, per area, from $50,800 to $148,000 (City/County of Durham Planning Department, 1999). In addition to the problem of not being able to own a home, a number of residents thought that rental costs present an economic barrier, particularly for low-income families. They believe that these costs interfere with the quality of home, school and family life:

It is an issue of adequate income…if you don't have adequate income [you] can't even maintain a stable rental home. I see that in the schools, the kids that move from house to house, several times during the year. They get way behind, they end up changing schools and not having a stable home environment.

One tenant suggested that trash pick-up and inspection fees, along with other costs of property upkeep, are often unfairly passed on to the tenant in the form of higher rent.

Home ownership has long been recognized as important to the Durham County community. In a previous community diagnosis of North/East Central Durham, residents linked quality of neighborhood life and community pride to whether people are homeowners or renters (Durham County Community Diagnosis Team, 1995). In this current community diagnosis, residents echoed this sentiment, stating that owning a home helps build a sense of "connection to the community."

When asked how the community has worked to address this need, residents spoke of a number of housing initiatives that have been organized in Durham. These initiatives work to both increase home ownership and to renovate existing homes for their owners. Such efforts involve the city government and such groups as the Duke Endowment, Partners Against Crime (P.A.C.), Habitat for Humanity and many churches, private organizations, and private investors. For example, Habitat for Humanity has placed 100 families into new homes since 1987 (Habitat for Humanity of Durham, 2000). One effort, the Partnership Effort for the Advancement of Children's Health (P.E.A.C.H.), seeks to identify homes that may place their occupants at risk for lead poisoning. This particular effort involves diverse participants such as high school students, college students, and city planners.

Despite all these efforts to improve the housing situation for Durham County community members, it was clear that residents have mixed opinions of the outcome of such efforts:

I'm very impressed with Durham's housing initiatives - they passed a very substantial bond and you see evidence of the effects of that bond, because housing is one of the major problems facing communities all over the triangle… I think Durham is doing a fairly decent job with that.

They want you to purchase the house for a certain price. It's stupid if you're going to buy a house for $30,000 and to get it fixed up to a decent level, you have to pay $50,000. Does that make sense?

Some barriers to the success of these initiatives that were described included impact and inspection fees driving up the cost of building, a failure to slate affordable homes to the people most in need, restrictions on the use of federal money for renovation purposes, and a failure to involve community members in some initiatives. In general, though, it was clear that Durham County as a community is motivated to improve opportunities for home ownership, and there are economic and organizational barriers that represent challenges to this goal.

Finally, people spoke of the needs of public housing residents, especially youth. In the North/East Central Durham Community Diagnosis, residents cited the need for better initiatives to help people get out of public housing, and to break the cycle of successive generations living there (Durham County Community Diagnosis Team, 1995). The 'Campus of Learners' program, based at North Carolina Central University, pairs college students with youth who live in public housing to provide mentorship. Some people also expressed that the Public Housing Authority is slow to respond to residents' needs. The Residents Councils of the public housing developments work to address these needs, and groups such as the Eagle Village Corporation work to develop areas immediately surrounding them.

It was clear during this community diagnosis that affordable housing and an increase in home ownership continue to be important issues to the Durham County community. Greater efforts to address some of the barriers to the many housing initiatives should result in greater success of those initiatives. Controlling rental costs and increasing ownership was cited by residents as a way to improve the stability of family life, improve student performance in schools, move more people out of public housing and increase the quality of life enjoyed by neighborhoods, particularly those in downtown and North/East Central Durham.

Chpater 2: Poverty

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Chapter 4: Crime