Durham Housing Authority faces $3M shortfall, seeks loan from city

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Betty Wright is almost two years behind on her rent. She's been living in McDougald Terrace for 17 years.

"I got a written statement yesterday saying I owe a thousand a-something dollars," she said.

Her next-door neighbor, Corinthia Rainey, is two months behind on her rent. Both women are unemployed. Rainey held her 6-month-old daughter and told ABC11 that she can't work because she has to watch her children, and daycare would be too expensive if she did.

"I'm trying to be productive in society and raise these kids," she said.

Rainey is also concerned about the living conditions her four children are exposed to every day. It's now been fixed, but her ceiling caved in a few years ago. She has other concerns about the conditions at the property, including seeing roaches.

" For a 2-year-old who is now 3 to say moach or roach, it's mind-boggling," said Rainey. "How do you know what that is?"

Durham Housing Authority leaders appealed to city council members for a $1.5 million loan. The agency said it is facing a $3 million shortfall. According to Durham Housing Authority, one of the reasons is that it has 1,200 households behind on rent, with a little more than 100 households at high risk of eviction.

"There are likely housing authorities in the state of North Carolina with higher collection rates actively enforcing leases during COVID-19, whereas Durham took an approach to try to help residents and avoid eviction," said DHA Chief Operating Officer Ashanti Brown.

Chief Executive Officer Anthony Snell said the other reason there's a shortfall is that the agency wiped out $6 million from its reserve fund during the 2019 McDougald Terrace carbon monoxide crisis that affected hundreds of residents. The money covered food, temporary housing, and other improvements in the homes.

"There were improvements on the site from moving from using gas stoves and changing over to electrical," said Snell.

As a result, Snell told ABC11 that the agency is behind on paying contractors and its utilities.

"I have outstanding utilities I have to pay that are somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.5 (million) and $1.7 million," he said.

Meanwhile, DHA residents Rainey and Wright said they don't have a timeline on when they'll be able to make enough payments to bring them current, but they do believe things will get better one day.

"I want to be a success story to say we came from this, but we got there," said Rainey.

Not all of DHA's budget is affected by this shortfall. The agency has several new housing developments that they are making progress on.

City council will vote June 16th whether or not to grant DHA the loan.