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Residents' input at retreat puts housing, neighborhood stability first; transportation, jobs and safety closely linked
Summary
City‑run community conversations and a city resident survey found housing and neighborhood stability top resident budget priorities; residents tied housing to transportation and jobs and emphasized prevention, reliable services and follow‑up communication after engagement.
Residents who took part in the city’s community conversations and a city‑fielded resident survey ranked housing and neighborhood stability as the leading priorities for the FY27 budget, staff told the council on Feb. 13.
The city held 13 community conversations in November and collected 499 completed questionnaires using a token‑allocation exercise and structured small‑group discussions. Community Partnerships and Engagement staff reported that housing and neighborhood stability received the largest share of tokens, and residents’ qualitative comments repeatedly linked housing to other priorities: transportation access, reliable transit and shorter travel times, and job and training opportunities.
Tyesha “Ty” Troy, business services administrator, said the sessions engaged people with varied lived experience: 67% of conversation participants identified as Black, 49% as renters, about 24% were youth and roughly 30% were seniors. “Our participants described redevelopment pressure leading to displacement and the loss of long‑standing community ties as well as day‑to‑day unaffordability,” Troy said.
The city’s statistically representative resident satisfaction survey, conducted by ETC Institute, also found affordability as a top funding priority. Jason Marado, ETC’s director of community research, reported that survey respondents ranked street maintenance, police protection, sidewalks and affordable housing among the top items for increased emphasis over the next two years. Durham scored well above regional and national benchmarks for overall service quality and customer service delivered by city employees.
Residents also urged prevention‑focused investments — for example, better maintained sidewalks and more structured youth activities — and asked staff to clearly report back on what happens after public input is received. Engagement staff said they will publish more detailed session transcripts, disaggregated token counts and follow‑up materials for council and the public.
Provenance: Resident token totals and qualitative examples were summarized during the community conversations briefing (topicintro SEG 6210; community conversations data SEG 6236–6846); ETC’s resident satisfaction survey methodology and priorities were presented in a separate briefing (SEG 5556–6012).
