The PA Housing Team has included the DPA ( Down Payment Assistance Program | Durham, NC) among the various affordable housing issues we've focused on in 2026. The goal of the City's program is to provide some additional financing for eligible low-income Durham residents seeking to purchase their first home in the City (see the criteria on the City's website). 

This is a relatively small part of the larger affordable housing universe in Durham, with the creation of affordable multi-family rental housing taking most of the available city, county, state, and federal funds. Still, given the program's past dysfunction and ineffectiveness, we thought it important to connect with the new leadership of the DPA program. This past March, four members of the PA Housing Team participated in an informal discussion hosted by the Durham Human Relations Commission with Sean White, the new director of the program. PA Housing Team members, as well as other HRC members and affordable housing advocates, heard about the current program activities from Sean and raised various concerns and suggested ways to improve the program's effectiveness and outreach.