An Orange County nonprofit recently took home a statewide award for excellence in affordable housing. The recognition from Housing North Carolina honored Community Home Trust’s efforts in making five homes along the Eno River in Durham permanently affordable for long-term residents risking eviction.
Although Community Home Trust currently owns more than 300 affordable homes in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, its executive director Kimberly Sanchez told 97.9 The Hill last week how the award-winning project was initially outside the organization’s comfort zone.
“There was a lot of controversy around this particular issue, and it was mostly because the tenants who were living in the homes had received eviction notices,” Sanchez said. “And they organized, and got some good press, and really encouraged — heavily — through this press that the organization should figure out a different way to work with the tenants.”
The nonprofit has worked to create permanently affordable homeownership opportunities for families for more than three decades, protecting properties from rent increases and redevelopment. Starting in 2022, the Open Air Camp Affordable Home residents lobbied for more than a year, hoping for similar protections.
“The idea was [to] keep the homes affordable forever, [to] find a way to do that. So, Community Home Trust came up,” Sanchez said. “And we said, ‘You know what? We don’t usually do this, but this is an incredible story that these people have organized and really created this opportunity, and it would be so wonderful if we could be a part of this story.’”
Community Home Trust acquired the five homes in March last year, rehabbing them with new roofs, windows, and other improvements. The effort meant the residents could remain in their homes — some of whom have lived in them for twenty years. Others are in the process of purchasing their homes, which the executive director said is one of the organization’s core missions.
According to Sanchez, the project was not a typical one for the nonprofit, which she said could be a reason for its 2025 Housing North Carolina recognition. She said there were more than 40 submissions for the award, which honors properties for innovation in design, construction, or funding sources.
“They let us know, we jumped up and down and got really excited about this type of recognition on a statewide basis because the thought is hopefully other organizations can learn from this type of thing that we did and there will be more of it throughout the state,” Sanchez said.
The 36th annual Housing North Carolina Awards celebrated the state’s best accomplishments in affordable housing. The other award categories included community impact, creative partnerships, and excellence in sustainability.
“I think we now recognize that we are capable of so much more than what we had been doing for the last 30 years,” Sanchez continued. “What we have done for 30 years is amazing work, but because this is a little bit different and we recognize that we can do that, we are totally interested in hearing about all kinds of ideas the community might have to make homes permanently affordable.”
To learn more about Community Home Trust, click here.
Featured image via North Carolina Housing Finance Agency
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