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On March 1, CHT purchased five homes on Open Air Camp Road in Durham, officially making them part of our permanently affordable inventory. The residents of those homes are members of the Eno River Tenants’ Association and had long hoped their homes could be protected by becoming part of a land trust. Planning is already underway to complete extensive necessary renovations on the homes, work that will be funded by a grant from the Oak Foundation and a loan from the Durham Affordable Housing Loan Fund. The current tenants, some of whom have lived in their homes for nearly twenty years, will get to stay – and some may even choose to become homeowners using our land trust homeownership model.

“When I first learned about this opportunity, I was immediately intrigued,” shared CHT Executive Director Kimberly Sanchez. “Mostly because of the tenants: I was so impressed with their organizing and their progressive thinking about how to save their homes. I was eager to see if CHT could find a way to support them by bringing our expertise to bear on their difficult situation.”

CHT has contracted with Lazarus Repair and Maintenance to begin work on rehabbing the five homes, each of which has unique repair needs ranging from roofing to flooring to plumbing to mold remediation. It will be several months before the repairs are completed, but in all but one case, the tenants are expected to be able to remain in their homes during the renovations.

“As a small nonprofit organization, we have the opportunity to think creatively about situations like this,” Sanchez explained. “And because of our unique role as a land trust, we have a variety of expertise on our staff that other organizations might not: real estate professionals, a licensed home inspector, and experience applying for funding to do community building work. That combination of expertise and experience, and the generous investment of our funding partners, means we can do something really important to support the tenants who have made these five houses their homes for decades. I’m very excited for this partnership.”

CHT is also working on producing a short impact film documenting the renovation project, which is expected to be released in early 2025.