February 23rd was the first meeting of the 505 Working Group (505WG) convened by the City to hear community/expert input on the prospects for affordable housing at 505 West Chapel Hill Street.

GOAL: The 505WG is a collaborative team of community advocates and experts working with City Staff. The purpose is to find a path forward for the start of affordable housing on the 505 West Chapel Hill Street site as soon as possible. 

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN OBSERVING AT THESE MEETINGS PLEASE CONTACT PEOPLE'S ALLIANCE AT [email protected] AND WE WILL HELP MAKE THAT HAPPEN.

Topics at First Meeting

1. We settled the question of whether a City ground lease could work (YES)
2. Parking: We made it clear that it's not impossible to come up with a plan to meet LIHTC requirements to maintain parking for the AH residents if 505 is developed in phases. Parking adjacent to the street will not be a problem. Off-site parking owned by the City (corner Duke/Main) may be available. And, it is very likely that the parking requirement for AH can be 1 space/resident (not 1.75).
3. Process: City Attorney Aarin Miles confirmed that the City is not required to use an RFP process to choose a developer. (And, incidentally, DHIC will not be disqualified because it is participating.)
4. Agreement that the Milton Small Building process will be long (developer search alone will be up to 2 years), rehab will be complicated and expensive, and there's no guarantee it will be successful or that the City will have subsidy.
5. 9% LIHTC deals in 2026 can be used for up to 120 units. The City does not know of any 2027 LIHTC applications in process. We'll need to monitor this.
6. General agreement on the viability of a mixed income building -- 80/60/30 % AMI -- which is allowed under LIHTC.
7. Next week we'll dig into "massing" (what will fit on the site), starting with a look at past proposals.

Members of this group are as follows (apologies for the lack of some of the names of participants)

Ketty Tellamaque - (Durham CAN)

Yolanda Winstead (DHIC)

Gregg Warren (DHIC)

Sherry Taylor (DCLT)

Ted Heilbron (Kelley Devt Co.) 

Stacey Poston (Durham City Staff)

Rick Larson (Durham CAN, 505 Coalition)

Staff from Perkins & Will

Dear City Manager Ferguson:

As you know, our consortium of community organizations dedicated to affordable housing has closely followed the City's effort to redevelop the 505 W. Chapel Hill St. property.  Consistent with the RFPs for the site, we have advocated for the inclusion of a significant number of residential units affordable at 60% AMI in perpetuity at 505.

We appreciated your suggestion at the December 4th work session that the City investigate more fully the feasibility of moving ahead now to build affordable housing at 505. We are supportive of your thought to include affordable housing experts and interested community members in that process.

We hope you might consider a more proactive approach. In short, we ask that affordable housing receive the same level of in-depth investigation at this point that Staff has recommended for the Milton Small Building (MSB). 

Staff is recommending a thorough plan to explore the feasibility of renovating the MSB. It is relying on a proven partner, Preservation NC, to: a) select a potential developer; b) explore possible renovation approaches; and c) return to Council with a proposal that would include a financial plan and estimate of needed City subsidy. This should give Council the facts it needs to consider whether the building should be renovated and at what level of subsidy. 

This Council and previous Councils have consistently and repeatedly made affordable housing a top priority at 505. Given this, why shouldn't we proceed now to use a similarly thorough approach to explore using a portion of 505 for affordable housing?

Respectfully, we would ask that rather than just seeking to validate or improve HR & A's report -- which was developed without significant input from affordable housing developers -- Council and staff could undertake the following process:

1. Identify several qualified developers to prepare proposals to build a significant number of affordable housing units at the 505 site. There are highly capable affordable housing developers who are interested in working at 505.
2. Each developer would be asked to develop a rough site plan which shows building elevations, building footprint, and placement of surface parking.
3. Developers would be asked to present along with the plan a financial proforma outlining preliminary sources of funds, with a funding range of required City subsidy needed to make the deal work.
4. At the developers' option, they could also propose uses for the remaining portions of the property, which might include a structured parking facility.
5. In the interest of retaining City ownership, the plan would assume the City would offer a ground lease for the affordable housing portion of the site. Developers have told us that they can make a project work with either a long-term lease or a land purchase.

Thank you for your consideration of this request. Our groups would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you at your earliest convenience to discuss this proposal in more detail. 

Sincerely, 

Rick Larson

For the 505 Consortium:

Coalition for Affordable Housing and Transit

Duke Memorial United Methodist Church

Durham Association of Educators

Durham Chapter, NAACP

Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People

The People's Alliance

December 17, 2025

Mayor Williams and members of the Durham City Council:

The People’s Alliance Housing Team congratulates those who ran for office this election cycle, and we are looking forward to working with all of you in this next iteration of the Durham City Council. 

This electoral season was unusually stressful at a fraught time in our country. The level of divisiveness both in the election and during public Council debates has felt personal and unnecessarily alienating. Put simply, it doesn’t have to be this way. 

This new City Council presents an opportunity to turn the page and work constructively together. 

We feel that Durham can set an example for the rest of North Carolina about how to stay strong and united in the face of authoritarian threats at the state and national levels.  We firmly believe and have heard you echo each other around shared values. We know most of you fundamentally agree on many issues

The PA membership believes in collaboration as shared responsibility to the whole and for our leaders to lean into difficult conversations. We expect democracy at its best to be iterative, deliberative and civil.

As a governing body in 2026 there are many important pending housing issues and decisions. To effectively meet them we suggest establishing communication norms that include showing respect for one another's strengths, intentional debate and moving toward consensus.  

We have high expectations particularly around housing given the stakes. We expect: 

• the Council to pursue all avenues so that the business community and developers know that our leaders have progressive goals for our City and high expectations for affordable housing. 
• you to be bold and think outside of the box. 
• the City Staff and elected officials to find systemic ways to hear from neighborhoods in the same way you hear regularly from the Chamber, the PA and other groups. 

We know much of that work is ongoing and we would like to work with each of you to communicate more regularly on actions the city is taking and the challenges and opportunities presented. Thank you for your service. We are all looking forward to working with you and members of City Staff on these shared goals. Look for the team and members of PA to be reaching out to discuss in the new year.

With appreciation, 

The Housing Action Team of People’s Alliance