Durham council hears $1.5 million loan request to shore up Durham Housing Authority operations

The Durham City Council heard an update and request on June 5 from Durham Housing Authority (DHA) and city staff asking the city manager to issue a conditional binding commitment of loan assistance of up to $1,500,000 to DHA to help stabilize the authority’s operations.

Why it matters: DHA runs roughly 4,000 units serving about 10,000 Durham residents and is operating under a HUD recovery agreement. Councilors and staff said the authority is short on operating revenue, has high tenant accounts receivable and needs money now to prevent further operational decline or federal intervention.

City and DHA officials summarized the request and the problems it is intended to address. DHA Chief Operating Officer Ashanti Brown and the authority’s attorney Jason Brenner joined city staff to answer questions. Council Member Wrist (city liaison to DHA) reviewed the scale: DHA houses about one in 25 Durham residents, average public-housing household income is low (she cited about $13,000), occupancy was reported at about 92% and some waiting lists are very long (for example, a 182‑unit project was said to have a waiting list of approximately 5,000). Brown said DHA’s tenant accounts receivable…