DURHAM – What is now two empty lots in East Durham will soon become six affordable units. 

Temperatures in Durham on June 5 reached over 90 degrees on the day of the Alma Street Commons groundbreaking, a development by Durham Community Land Trustees. Its homes will not only be affordable; they are being built with entirely sustainable materials, keeping rising energy costs low and maintaining a net-zero carbon footprint. 

Affordable housing development isn’t easy, DCLT Executive Director Sherry Taylor said. The homes will include solar panels, be ADA compliant on the first floors and be prepped for EV charging.

“When you build sustainably, it’s not cheaper,” she said. “It’s hot out here today. If you can’t run your air conditioning, that’s a health issue. Here in North Carolina, we’re slated to have at least 90 days over 90 degrees. As developers, we need to build for that.”

Part of the affordability is due to its physical structure: manufactured by Module, the modular homes are pre-built, transported to the land and set on the foundation by a crane. Module, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, designs with environmental sustainability as a key goal, offering all Zero-Energy Ready Homes. These homes follow standards set by the Department of Energy to produce the same amount of energy it consumes. 

Alma Street Commons is North Carolina’s first Living Building Challenge-certified development, following DCLT’s tradition of making history for the state in affordable housing. The Living Building Challenge, developed by the International Living Futures Institute, prioritizes seven aspects of development: health and happiness, water, energy, equity, beauty, place and materials. 

“The Living Building Challenge calls for action to restore the relationship between people and nature as our world becomes increasingly urbanized, and we grow increasingly disconnected from the world in which we evolved,” the program’s webpage says. 

“There’s more coming,” Taylor said. “We know that this is going to be an issue for a long time. As affordable housing developers, we need to be designing properly, we need to be designing better.”

The development stands on a protected area of the watershed, which drains toward Falls Lake, the crucial source of potable water for Orange, Wake and Durham counties.

Durham County Commissioner Wendy Jacobs and Durham City Council member Matt Kopac are members of the county’s Environmental Affairs Board. They both applauded the steadfast work in developing affordable housing in a changing Durham while construction costs rise.

“If we do not have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, healthy soil to grow our food and healthy homes to live in, we cannot thrive or survive,” Jacobs said. “I am a huge fan of the land trust model. For me, it is the ultimate model that really works.”

The second piece of affordability is in the land trust itself. Durham Community Land Trustees owns the land on which the homes sit, so the amount families pay for their homes is significantly cheaper.

The development still needs financing, although Wells Fargo, Durham County and the city of Durham have gotten the project this far.

Comments