Mayor Leo Williams 

Mayor Pro Tempore Mark Anthony-Middleton

Councilmember Nate Baker

Councilmember Javiera Caballero

Councilmember Chelsea Cook

Councilmember DeDreana Freeman

Councilmember Carl Rist 

October 16, 2025

Mayor Williams and Council Members:

The People’s Alliance Housing Team wanted to express its unanimous, resounding support of the tenant’s rights ordinance expected to be placed on the October 20, 2025 agenda. 

We hope it similarly receives a unanimous endorsement from the Mayor and all members of Council.   

As one of our members, Milo Graber, who has been one of the advocates urging the city to take up the ordinance, wrote in a recent Op-Ed, “By passing this ordinance, we can give tenants and their attorneys a powerful tool to enforce basic standards of habitability in their homes and even the playing field in eviction court.”

We have heard the concerns voiced by the City Attorney about this ordinance. In this case, we hope the Mayor and members of Council go to bat for renters in a state that offers few protections for those at the mercy of a bad landlord. As you know, renters make up nearly 50% of Durham’s population. 

We know some members of Council are considering an alternative proposal for city staff to be able to wield new tools to force landlords to comply with property violations. We hope those efforts could co-exist with, rather than replace, this proposed ordinance, which puts more legal power in tenants and their attorney’s hands directly. We believe the Council should not wait to vote on the existing proposal as heard in the last two work sessions.  

Further, the same ordinance has been part of the housing code in Charlotte since 2007, in Pineville since 2008, and in Pittsboro since 2022. They’ve never been challenged by the state. Both Legal Aid and private housing attorneys have successfully used Charlotte’s similar ordinance in their legal advocacy on behalf of tenants with unrepaired housing code violations in their units. One such lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of Charlotte tenants resulted in a very favorable 2020 settlement.

The “imminently dangerous” housing code violations in that Charlotte housing complex included, among others, unrepaired plumbing and electrical problems. Attorneys were able to rely in part on a section of Charlotte’s Minimum Housing Code (upon which the proposed Durham Housing Code is based) to achieve an important settlement for tenants who were treated unfairly, as the landlord continued to require tenants to pay rent even while the very serious Housing Code violations were found to remain unrepaired.

We hope that our elected leaders would similarly want fair outcomes through the legal system for tenants at the mercy of unscrupulous landlords.To forgo adopting this important tool to enforce minimum habitability requirements in Durham, based on some possible legal response that may or may not occur in the future, would be shortsighted. We hope that the City will see this as an opportunity to defend the rights of the least powerful and those in the most precarious housing situations. That is exactly what we should expect from our city administrators.

Thank you for your efforts and service to our city, and thank you for your time and consideration to this matter.

With appreciation.  

The People’s Alliance Housing Team 

Members:

Jeremy Borden, (PA Member)

Milo Graber (Lead, Riverside HS Affordable Housing Team, PA Member)

Jack Holtzman (PA Member)

Ann Rebeck (PA coordinator, PA Member)

Henry Sniezek(PA Member)

Helena Cragg, Durham resident 

Ron Westlund (PA Member)

Dear Mayor Williams, Mayor Pro-Tem Middleton, and Councilmembers Baker, Caballero,  Cook, Freeman and Rist:

The organizations listed below believe that the Durham City Council’s decision at its June 5 Work Session to end negotiations with the Peebles Corporation creates a unique opportunity at the 505 site to address the City’s worsening affordable housing crisis without further delay.  At the Work Session, we were pleased to hear that a majority of Council members expressed a desire to proceed now with building a significant # of affordable units at 505.

We call on the Council, as our duly elected representatives, to direct City staff to move forward immediately with a plan to build a minimum of 130 units of rental housing affordable in perpetuity to families earning 60% of AMI.  Specifically, we call on Council to direct the City Manager and City Staff to:

1.  Within 90 days, select a qualified affordable housing developer with a successful track record in Durham and North Carolina to partner with the City to develop and implement a plan to build a minimum of 130 units of affordable rental housing at 505;
2.  Work with the selected developer to create a plan acceptable to the City and the developer for building the affordable units and sufficient parking facilities on a portion of the 505 site; and 
3.  Within 90 days of selecting the developer, return to City Council with the plan and a proposed contract with the developer for Council’s consideration and approval.

The following points inform our request:

• An RFP process is not required for the City Council to move forward with affordable housing, which it has named as its first priority at the site. The City Attorney clearly indicated at the June 5 meeting that the City could enter into a sole source agreement with a developer to address a public need.

• At least two highly qualified affordable housing developers with experience in Durham and NC – Laurel Street Partners and DHIC – have indicated an interest in engaging with the City to proceed with construction of affordable housing on the portion of the 505 site that does not include the Milton Small Building (MSB). 

• This approach was one of the 3 possible pathways outlined by City Staff in its memo to Council: “Pursue Smaller Scale Redevelopment” (a) Solicit a developer for Milton Small and/or affordable housing and b) Add surface parking and open space.”

• We are concerned that yet another extended planning process for the 505 site – such as a master planning process -- will cause unacceptable delays in addressing the City’s affordable housing crisis.  The best time to build affordable housing is now, when the market for commercial office space and higher endor market rate housing is “soft.” 

• For this major tract of City property strategically located in Durham’s downtown, we continue to favor a long-term ground lease to the developer, or equivalent protections for the City’s interests and for the welfare of the residents of any affordable housing built at 505.

• We remain committed to building units affordable in perpetuity at 60% of AMI.  We encourage the use of DHA project-based vouchers to make a portion of the units affordable to families at 30% AMI.

• We take no position on the advisability of preserving the MSB. Adequate space exists on the remainder of the 4.4 acre site to accommodate 130+ units of affordable rental units and sufficient parking, while leaving room for other forms of development (housing, retail, commercial) as market conditions improve. 

We would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you in the next few weeks to discuss this request. In the meantime, thank you for your consideration of this opportunity to address Durham’s critical need for affordable housing.

Sincerely,

Rick Larson, on behalf of

Duke Memorial United Methodist Church

Durham Coalition for Affordable Housing and Transit

Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People 

Durham People’s Alliance

June 16, 2025

Dear Governor Stein:

The People’s Alliance urges you to veto SB 153 and HB 318 quickly and decisively. Immigrants are an
essential part of our community. They are our neighbors, coworkers, and friends. We all want to live in safe
communities, but scapegoating immigrants, who research shows are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.
citizens, is not the answer.

The Durham People’s Alliance (PA) is a grassroots membership organization that has been advancing a
progressive vision for Durham and NC for over 40 years. We advance progressive issues and policies through
research, organizing, advocacy, and democratic engagement.

The requirements in SB 153 are overly burdensome for state agencies tasked with providing social services
and ensuring North Carolina residents are able to access public benefits for which they are eligible.
Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for the vast majority of public benefits, and agencies already have
procedures in place to verify eligibility, making the requirements of the bill not only discriminatory, but also
redundant and overly bureaucratic.

HB 318 would sweep up even more people who are accused, not convicted, of a crime -- including non-violent
crimes -- in cruel immigration enforcement activities that tear families apart. Delaying the start clock would lead
to longer periods of incarceration, raising 4th amendment concerns. These laws will also likely lead to increased
surveillance and racial profiling of Black and Brown communities, harming North Carolinians who look or speak
a certain way regardless of their citizenship status, and erode the trust between communities and the
protective services they should be able to rely on.

Requiring local law enforcement, the state highway patrol, or other state agencies to enter into agreements
with ICE or otherwise participate in immigration enforcement distracts from their primary obligations and forces
our state to play a role in the inhumane immigration enforcement actions we have seen on the national stage.
Elected officials and law enforcement are sworn to protect and uphold the U.S. constitution. The People’s
Alliance is concerned that ICE officers across the nation are ignoring due process and violating the
constitutional rights of U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents, and undocumented immigrants alike.
We urge you to uphold North Carolinians’ constitutional rights by vetoing SB 153 and and 318.

Respectfully,
The Board of Directors
People’s Alliance
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