You may have noticed a common theme among many of the interviews the DLA has included in its “Faces of Downtown Raleigh” blog posts. Small business owners are happy to set up shop in the Downtown and support the ongoing revitalization efforts, but are concerned that many of their employees cannot afford to live Downtown. It’s agreed that affordable housing is at the core of creating a vibrant, diverse and livable city environment.
The DLA shares this concern, and sees the diversity of residents as a defining element to Downtown (in contrast to suburban pattern living), providing an important liveliness and character to our environment. Wanting to find out more about the key issues in maintaining and supporting a diverse Downtown population, I met with Gregg Warren, the President of DHIC (formerly known as the Downtown Housing Improvement Corporation). The DHIC is a non-profit developer of affordable housing and a promoter of home ownership.
Gregg Warren, DHIC PresidentHaving just celebrated his 25th year with the DHIC, Gregg understands the need for “workforce housing” better than just about anyone. “I believe strongly in the importance of people having the opportunity for choice and options in their housing,“ he says. Gregg got his Masters in City and Regional Planning from UNC and says he’s always been an advocate for social change and believed strongly in an equitable distribution of wealth. His driving force has always been diversity and opportunity within neighborhoods, with a healthy mix of income levels.
Among DHIC’s goals is providing quality affordable rental housing for individuals with modest incomes, and increasing home ownership among first-time home buyers through education and counseling. Two well-known properties developed and managed by DHIC in Downtown Raleigh are the Praire Building Apartments, and Carlton Place. Gregg is also very proud of the new Brookridge Apartments. Located just 2 miles south of Downtown, the building just opened with 40 studio apartments available to lease for single men and women, many of whom are formerly homeless.
When I asked Gregg to share a story that exemplified the work done by the DHIC, he told me about the Murphey School Project that was seeded about twenty years ago. Raleigh’s oldest school, built in 1917 and located on North Person Street, the Murphey School had become fodder for the Joni Mitchell song: the state had decided to demolish the building and “put up a parking lot”. The DHIC enlisted the support from neighboring Oakwood residents and joined forces to save it with Smedes York, City Councilors Charles Meeker and Ralph Campbell Jr., and Dan Blue, who was Speaker of the House at the time. The building was saved, and now serves as affordable housing for seniors – Murphey School Apartments.
Contacting the DHIC
Most of DHIC’s apartments are reserved for households earning 60% or below Area Median Income (AMI). To find out whether you qualify for a specific DHIC property, contact the apartment manager listed on the DHIC property page.
The DHIC offices are located in the Prairie Building, 113 South Wilmington Street in the Moore Square District of Downtown Raleigh. The Prairie Building, one of Raleigh’s oldest and most architecturally significant buildings, was designed in the 1870s by prominent local architect, Joseph P. Prairie. Visit them on the web at www.dhic.org
Praire Building
Carlton Place Courtyard
Brookridge Apartments
Great group of people. Are there any other groups working on bringing more affordable housing downtown? Tucker Apartments is in fact apartments right? How are those doing?
I think we need a clarification of terms. DHIC is offering Subsidized housing for low-income folks, but for those in the lower- middle income brackets, Downtown still has a huge shortage of affordable housing. There is a difference.
So if you're not rich, but not poor enough to qualify for subsidized housing, downtown is still extremely difficult to find a place to live! What we need is more mid-level housing..desperately! Finding a two-bedroom apartment for less than a grand-per-month is not easy in downtown unless it's either an old crumbling place or subsidized for low-income people. This is not conducive to a vibrant downtown at all.
The two major apartment buildings built downtown in the last couple of decades—Tucker and Hue—have ridiculously high rents! And practically all the condos and townhomes downtown are definitely for people making six-digit incomes, no doubt.
Downtown living will never be taken seriously in this city until it starts offering more for the middle class.