Durham Housing Authority redevelops properties amid ongoing maintenance issues

The Durham Housing Authority (DHA) is continuing efforts to redevelop its aging public housing properties into mixed-income housing, DHA officials told the Durham City Council, according to INDY Week.

The redevelopment aims to create sustainable funding by combining revenue from market-rate units with subsidized housing, and to move tenants from traditional public housing to the Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) program, which is better funded.

DHA plans to complete redevelopment at the Dillard Street Apartments this year and at Liberty Street and the former Oldham Towers site by 2028. Eleven public housing sites have already been redeveloped, with six more scheduled over the next decade.

In the past decade, nearly 1,000 public housing units have been converted to voucher-subsidized leases. Currently, DHA has 894 public housing units, with over 300 slated to transition to the voucher program, and 2,430 tenants using vouchers.

As part of the redevelopment, residents displaced by construction will be moved to newer buildings with voucher support and have the right to return after construction. Rent remains the same and residents continue under DHA management.

The voucher program places residents in buildings with market-rate tenants to deconcentrate poverty and sustain property upkeep through mixed revenue, unlike traditional public housing which relies solely on federal funding.

Despite progress, DHA officials noted ongoing maintenance issues at some sites and emphasized the need for more subsidized housing to meet demand.