Durham Has Spent Nearly All of the $95 Million Affordable Housing Bond Funds

EJP, in partnership with the Durham Housing Authority, has played a critical role in the City of Durham’s success in expanding affordable housing to meet a growing demand. Through DDNP projects and RAD conversions—including The Joyce, Forest Hill Heights, JJ Henderson, Vanguard Apartments, and Liberty Street—DHA has preserved and created more than 675 affordable homes, with several hundred additional units planned as redevelopment efforts continue.

By Justin Laidlaw

January 14, 2026

The ribbon-cutting of Vanguard Apartments, the first Choice Neighborhoods Implementation housing phase

North Carolina is one of the fastest growing states in the country. World-class universities, expansive state parks, proximity to an international airport, the beach, the mountains, and that sweet southern charm are big draws for the Tar Heel State. According to the NC Chamber Foundation, the number of households in the state will increase by 218,160 between 2024 and 2029. The state needs a whopping 764,478 units, a mixture of for-sale and rental housing, to meet such high demand.

Durham County is one of the places facing down the massive influx of residents to the state. The report says that Durham ranks 4th in overall housing gap–the number of units needed to keep up with population growth–at 32,992 units, behind Mecklenburg, Wake and Guilford counties. Low-income homeowners and renters are feeling the pressures more acutely. According to the Triangle Community Foundation, Durham is short roughly 25,000 units for low-income and working class families.

There are many paths to reaching Durham’s housing goals, each with its own merits and shortcomings. Nearly every solution involves a combination of public and private sector contributions, and scales from accessory dwelling units and single family homes, to quadplexes and yes, even those gaudy high rises.

In 2019, Durham voters overwhelmingly supported a $95 million housing bond to facilitate the construction and restoration of hundreds of affordable housing units across the community. City officials also included $65 million in additional funding from the city’s Dedicated Housing Fund and federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act to round out the $160 million invested in a five-year affordable housing investment program, parts of which are still ongoing.

While the city has a strong grasp of the impact the housing program has made on units created by those funds, there is limited and scattershot data on the entire housing landscape in Durham. Private developers, local nonprofits and other organizations also play a role in increasing housing stock.

The City Has Spent Almost All of its 2019 Bond Funds

At the onset of the five-year affordable housing program, building new affordable housing units was a top priority. The city set a five-year goal of creating 1,600 new affordable rental units while also preserving 800 units. It exceeded both goals.

Almost $39 million went toward new construction and preservation, which allowed for the creation of 1,068 new affordable rental units using funds from the Forever Home bond and the Dedicated Housing Fund. Over half of those units were in partnership with the Durham Housing Authority, which rehabilitated its JJ Henderson and Morreene Road developments, as well as constructed new units at The Vanguard and The Joyce. DHIC and Self-Help also contributed to two major projects: Ashton Place, which supports senior living, and Hardee Street Apartments, a 132-unit apartment complex in East Durham. Residents have already begun to inhabit most of the properties.

A multitude of other projects are also under contract. In total, 1,169 rental units—917 affordable units and 252 market rate units—are in the midst of construction or rehabilitation, including phases 3 and 4 of the Southside projects near historic Hayti, more construction on the former Liberty Street Apartment site, and 20 accessory dwelling units as part of a pilot program with Coram Houses.

Lastly, over 500 affordable units are in the planning pipeline. The former Forest Hills Heights redevelopment is expected to create 185 units, and The Villages of Hayti would add 252 units, bringing much-needed housing to neighborhoods on the periphery of downtown. But these future projects come with a much higher price tag due to their prime location. The city has allocated roughly $46.8 million for the 571 units planned, more than it has already spent on the 1,608 built so far.

More units will likely be maintained through the city’s NOAH (naturally occurring affordable housing) preservation pilot program.

The city of Durham also surpassed other critical benchmarks by moving over 2,000 families into permanent housing, and helping roughly 4,700 low-income renters and homeowners continue to stay where they live through rental assistance and home improvement programs. The city fell short thus far in reaching its goal of providing financial support for low-income homebuyers; only 125 residents of the 400-person goal have taken advantage of the program. Although the city hit the five-year benchmark, some projects within Forever Home, Durham are still ongoing.

Durham is Part of a Growing Region

The story of Durham’s growth is no longer a best-kept secret. And for every accolade the city receives highlighting the Bull City as a “best place to live” with James Beard-winning restaurants, the cost of living has surged alongside them.

Since 2019, the area median income (AMI) at nearly all levels is up 36%. This measure is used to set price levels for affordable units—for example, units in one apartment complex may be set aside for residents making 80% of the area median income. When the AMI goes up, the price of units available to residents making a percentage of the AMI rise accordingly. While wages have increased, they haven’t kept up with housing prices and cost of goods, and recent cuts to federal programs like USAID and the potential loss of Medicaid expansion at the state level is putting added pressure on families from a wide swath of Durham.

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