NC community’s affordable apartment complex gets tenants after long delay ...Middle East

Tenants began moving into P.E.A.C.H. Apartments in Chapel Hill on April 1 after a nearly one-year delay. (Photo: Greg Childress/NCNewsline)

A group of newly moved-in tenants gathered in a breezeway at Pine Knoll EMPOWERment Affordable Community Housing (PEACH) Apartments in Chapel Hill on Monday to chat and to compare notes about items on their punch lists.

It was a gathering and conversation that should’ve taken place nearly a year ago. It was delayed after Duke Power refused to connect the project because the developer, EMPOWERment Inc., installed one meter for the entire 10-unit apartment complex to accommodate rooftop solar panels. 

Delores Bailey, EMPOWERment’s executive director, had chosen the single-meter and solar panel approach as a way to reduce energy costs for low-income residents who would rent the apartments. The apartments were primarily built for tenants earning 30% of area median income, which is about $27,000 a year for Orange County.

The problem with the single meter was that state law does not allow new residential buildings to be served by a master meter for electric services. Duke followed the law. EMPOWERment asked the N.C. Utilities Commission to overrule Duke, but it ruled in the energy company’s favor.

That meant Bailey had to raise another $100,000 to install single-unit meters in each apartment. 

The nearly year-long delay caused some people hardship, said Betty Curry, who moved in last week with her husband Silas. Curry said some proposed tenants told landlords they were moving but were left without permanent housing. 

“I was fortunate enough to have a cooperative landlord but there were others who were actually sleeping on other people’s couches because of all of the bureaucracy,” Curry said.

On Monday, Bailey filed the delayed opening under “lessons learned.” 

“I would have done more research,” Bailey told NC Newsline. “I assumed — my bad — Duke would be happy to have solar panels on something like this, so we could pass even more savings on to the residents.”

The solar panel concept was scrubbed, but Bailey takes comfort in the fact that the larger goal of providing affordable housing for low-income people in one of the state’s wealthiest communities has still been accomplished.

“In our 30 years of managing properties, what we know is there are people walking around these streets all day long working who don’t have a decent place to live in Chapel Hill,” Bailey said. 

She added: “While this is open to all people of Orange County, we’re looking for residents who are sleeping on people’s couches for one reason or another or are constantly moving because of rising rents.”

Low-income renters in North Carolina far outnumber affordable housing units   

Eight of the apartment complex’s’ 10 units are occupied, Bailey said. A three-bedroom rents for $900 a month and a one-bedroom is $650 to $700, she said.

“$900 for a three-bedroom in Chapel Hill is an amazing rent,” Bailey said.

The average rent in Chapel Hill for all bedrooms and all property types is $1,900 a month, according to Zillow Rentals.

Bailey said EMPOWERment will be able to keep rents affordable for tenants with extremely low-income because the $3.8 million project is debt free. EMPOWERment received most of its funding from the federal government, the Town of Chapel Hill and donors, she said.  

Orange County is one of the wealthiest in North Carolina, but that wealth doesn’t always trickle down to poor people in the community, Bailey said.

“The wealth gap between the haves-and have nots is huge, but people don’t know that about Chapel Hill,” she said.

The income disparity in Orange County is most acute in communities of color. The area median income for Black households in Orange County, for example, is $52,121, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. That’s dramatically lower — $46,847 — than the $98,968 area median income for white households. 

“It’s important for people to understand what EMPOWERment built — a whole apartment building for people making 30% of area median income or below,” Bailey said. “Even when you partner with for-profit developers and municipalities, they don’t reach this low.  We have done something pretty unique here.”

The handful of the residents that gathered on the breezeway to talk Monday scattered after learning that a reporter wanted to interview them about the new apartments.

Betty Curry, the self-described “talker” among them, stayed and touted the apartment complex’s affordability.

Curry declined to share her rent amount but said it was “nowhere near” the nearly $1,000 a month she was paying for her previous apartment.

“I’m feeling very positive about this, and I’m just hoping that everything goes well so that we can continue to thrive and have more PEACH apartments,” Curry said. “I know that’s her [Bailey] goal.”

Tonaka Cook was also feeling positive after moving into one of the studio units Thursday. Like Curry, she was impressed by the apartment’s affordability.

“It’s a nice, safe, quiet community,” Cook said. “The apartment has all of the updated amenities, and for the price, it’s a blessing.”

Cook said another selling point was there are no restrictive administrative and application fees like at other apartments she’s rented. Those fees sometimes were as much as $1,200, she said.

“There were no extra out-of-pocket costs that some of these apartment communities charge,” Cook said. “They made it very easy.”

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