- [Announcer] ncIMPACT is a PBS North Carolina production in association with the University of North Carolina School of Government.

Funding for ncIMPACT is made possible by- - [Narrator] Changing the course of people's lives, that's the impact UNC Health and the UNC School of Medicine work to deliver every day.

Our 40,000 team members across the state of North Carolina are committed to caring for you, our patients and communities, as well as educating the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Individually, we can do a little, but collectively we can do a lot to create impact.

- Housing costs are forcing many North Carolinians to their breaking point.

We will explore some solutions offering hope.

This is ncIMPACT.

Welcome to ncIMPACT, Anita Brown-Graham.

Rising housing costs are forcing tough choices for many North Carolinians.

We head to Durham, again, this season to look at ways the community is working to help residents stay in the place they call home.

- There's no silver bullet to solve the housing crisis.

A developer will say, "Let's ease land use restrictions to build more homes."

A politician will argue, "Let's lower interest rates, so people can afford their mortgage."

A city planner will say, "Let's revitalize blighted neighborhoods to build up housing stock."

But a local resident will argue that will price us out of the only affordable neighborhood left in the city.

You see, it's like one big giant game of whack-a-mole, a solution for one creates problems for others.

This is happening all across America, but especially in the south.

Newcomers are leaving pricier cities and flooding southern markets, pouncing unavailable homes.

The result: prices are shooting through the roof.

This housing puzzle is way more complex than just a game of supply and demand.

And the solutions?

They're complex too, and sometimes controversial.

So I'm not here looking for a silver bullet, but I do want to hear from the perspectives of the local government, private sector, and community leaders, is there a solution that meets everyone's needs or should we just let the market sort it out?

I'm David Hurst.

This is ncIMPACT.

[pensive music] North Carolina is the third fastest growing state in the country.

For cities like Durham, this surge of new residents is driving housing costs to unprecedented levels.

It's pricing out residents like Sabrina, a young professional who wanted to become a homeowner but couldn't find anything in her price range.

When you were searching, what was going through your mind?

Was that a frustrating process?

- It was starting to get frustrating, 'cause I was like, this is a mistake.

Like I don't have enough money for this, or I'm not gonna be able to find a house that I'm looking for.

- [David] But this isn't just about young professionals struggling to find homes.

In five years, average rents have increased by more than 50% in Durham.

While exploring how rising rents impact longtime residents, I spoke with Bertha Bradley who's witnessed firsthand how Durham's housing market has transformed her community.

- You've got these apartments now, studio is $1,500.

What is these mothers gonna do?

You got mothers that don't have anywhere.

Children is living in the shelter because the mamas can't afford to get a nice apartment.

It's just not right.

- [David] The current crisis is pushing households to their financial limits.

The low income housing has been in crisis mode for years.

In the 1980s, the federal government slashed housing in urban development resulting in a 74% reduction in the number of households receiving assistance.

As federal support dried up, states tried to fill the gap, but researchers say, unlike the federal government, almost never for the general low income population.

The burden then fell to cities.

But what can local governments do when housing costs are out of control?

While in 2018, Durham residents approved a $95 million affordable housing bond.

It's one of the largest ever in the state.

The idea is simple: the city borrows money, then passes it to developers as gap funding to make homes more affordable.

The city then pays investors back over time, usually with tax dollars.

To understand the impact of Durham's housing bond, I met with Dan Levine from the Self-Help Credit Union.

He helps turn these public investments into actual homes through Durham residents.

- And so I think it's really kind of putting your money where your mouth is, if you will, of like voting for the issues that you say you care about and actually trying to work to solve them.

- [David] More than half of the bond went toward Forever Home Durham, a five-year plan to create and preserve affordable housing across the city.

Take the Willard Street Apartments where rents range from $600 to $800, about a third of market rate.

The city made this possible by selling surplus land near the transit station to developers for just $10.

But they had one condition, keep it affordable.

However, this is just one project in a city of nearly 300,000 people.

- It takes a long time to get through the process to re-zone land and to come up with financing and to actually do the construction to build homes.

And so it's not the type of thing that, you know, a problem that took 20, 30, 50 years to create is not gonna be solved in months.

It's gonna be probably decades.

- [David] The bond money helps, but it can't solve everything.

And that's led Durham to try something else.

Something that's stirring up controversy in cities across America.

Cities like Durham are realizing that sometimes the biggest barriers to affordable housing aren't financial.

They're legal.

So in 2019, Durham started rewriting its rule book.

The city loosened restrictions on what kinds of homes could be built where, and gave the green light to more missing middle options like duplexes and so-called "granny flats."

And they didn't stop there.

In 2023, they doubled down, tweaking zoning again to incentivize affordable housing.

- Community groups said, "Why don't we use this city on land to build affordable housing?"

- [David Voiceover] To understand how these zoning changes are reshaping Durham's neighborhoods, I met with Reginald Johnson.

He's the city's community development director.

- So how much has the council loosening restrictions on where you can build, how much has that helped with the housing shortage?

- That has helped.

I would say one of the things that they've done is allowed for more density and created a density bonus, whereas developers who want to have more density can agree to have affordable housing units put into their developments.

And people are comfortable with diversity in their neighborhoods in terms of economic diversity.

And that's really what excites me.

So it gives us a lot to work with, but we're not able to solve the problem.

But we are able to make a good dent in it.

- So while these zoning changes are bringing new housing to market, often revitalizing divested neighborhoods, they're also raising a critical question: How do we add housing without displacing the people who need it the most?

Here we are playing whack-a-mole again.

But there's a third approach that's trying to bridge this gap.

One that's been working quietly in Durham for nearly four decades.

It's called the Community Land Trust.

Here's how it works.

The trust owns the land while residents own or rent the homes on it.

This unique arrangement keeps housing costs lower because homeowners aren't paying for the land.

- So this home has a great kitchen layout.

This is where the table's gonna be.

We haven't put in the cabinetry yet, but it'll be along this wall.

- [David Voiceover] I met with Sherry Taylor, Durham Community Land Trust's executive director.

She showed us around one of the homes that's being renovated and about to hit the market.

- So what we do is we offer an ability for people to stay and not be displaced, stay in the places that they love.

They can afford to live here, either by renting or by owning, and then they can be a part of this great community that we have.

It's always been a great community and now people can continue to be part of that without being pushed out.

- But the trust faces its own challenges, particularly when it comes to acquiring new properties.

And when it comes to desirable land, like I imagine this one right here, how do you battle for-profit corporations or developers that also may want to invest here?

- Battle is a great word, 'cause that's exactly what it is.

On a everyday basis when we wanna acquire property, we are competing against everyone in the world, it seems like, in-state investors, out-of-state investors, Wall Street folks who wanna invest in single family homes and real estate in this area, they know it's highly marketable.

And so the battle comes down to the numbers.

Can we offer what the private market is offering?

So that's the battle.

- [David Voiceover] One of the residents they're fighting for is Bertha Bradley.

- A lot of the families that do have the housing from Durham Community Land Trust, we wouldn't be here.

I'm one of them people.

If it wasn't for Durham Community Land Trust, I would not be able to be in my city.

And I'm born and raised here.

- [David] And it also empowers new homeowners like Sabrina, who found a path to home ownership through the Community Land trust.

- I would say I'm extremely thankful.

I don't really think I'd be able to own a house, you know, at 26 without like this existing.

- [David] From young professionals like Sabrina to longtime residents like Bertha, Durham's affordable housing crisis affects everyone differently.

And maybe that's why no single solution will work for everyone.

What is clear is that a mix of these different solutions will be necessary, so that a solution for one group of people doesn't push out others.

- The the irony of a crisis is everybody kind of gets on the same page and works together.

It's almost like if you have a natural disaster and you have neighbors who weren't speaking to each other before and they come together and roll up their sleeves and work side by side.

- [David] For ncIMPACT, I'm David Hurst.

- As communities search for housing Solutions, answers are emerging in unexpected places.

We visited Ashburg, where a sacred space is meeting housing needs.

- Have you ever noticed an uncanny number of churches in small and rural towns with dwindling congregations, some of those churches even sitting vacant for years?

Well, you're not imagining it.

Half of all congregations in the US or in the South and attendance at many of these churches is declining.

But at the same time, homelessness is on the rise.

The US homeless population has swelled to over 750,000.

That's the highest since tracking began in 2007.

- I think, homelessness nationwide is starting to approach epidemic scale.

- [David Voiceover] Could these dwindling congregations have the answer to the housing crisis?

Could they use their available real estate to provide relief to those seeking shelter?

- We're here in Asheboro, North Carolina where they're doing something radical.

- When we all work together, this is what can happen.

- Instead of closing a dying church's doors, they're giving it new life, using it to serve the community.

But how did they do it?

Is it sustainable?

And can other communities make the same difference?

Let's find out.

[church bell ringing] Drive through any small southern town and you'll notice something interesting.

There's churches.

Lots of them.

Sometimes three or four on a single corner.

Beautiful buildings, rich with history, but increasingly empty.

- I remember when you just opened the doors and the church was filled.

That is not true anymore.

- [David Voiceover] But while churches sit empty, other spaces are filling up: parking lots, wooded areas, anywhere people without homes can find shelter.

- It's really tough to find a place to stay, especially when you have an eviction against you.

- [David] Beverly England and her daughter found themselves living in their car after an eviction.

Their options were limited.

- It was tough, 'cause there's nowhere here in Asheboro, you can really park without the law running you off.

- [David] This wasn't just one family story.

Throughout Asheboro, Reverend Linda Ferguson was encountering the same crisis.

- And I found that repeatedly, I would walk the streets to meet people, went out to some of the homeless camps, and we would find there would be children and women sleeping in cars.

- [David] Meanwhile, just a few miles away, Calvary United Methodist Church stood empty.

- [Linda] Calvary had been a such a vibrant Methodist church in this community for many years.

Lots of ministries, many hundreds of people there on Sunday mornings, just a very vibrant church.

But over the years it had declined, as a lot of churches do.

- [David] So a series of discussions took place involving church members, city and county leaders, and nonprofit officials.

They decided to repurpose the empty church to meet their community's greatest need: a shelter for women and children.

The building became Lydia's Place.

It opened first in the church's former fellowship hall with 12 beds for women and children experiencing homelessness.

- I have to say the easiest part of this, honestly, was getting support in the community and getting the funding we needed because the need was very clear and people here wanted to help.

- [David] What began as one church's vision, quickly grew into something much bigger: drawing support from across Asheboro.

- This is not a first United Methodist Church project, it is a community project.

- [David Voiceover] But as Lydia's Place began taking in residence, they faced a critical question: how do you turn temporary shelter into lasting stability?

Lydia's Place offers more than just a place to stay.

Case managers work with each family, connecting them to housing assistance, social services, and other resources they might need.

This can include help with finding jobs, arranging transportation, or securing childcare.

The approach aims to address the many issues that can lead to homelessness, helping residents build toward independence.

- It's more than just getting out of the cold or getting out of the heat.

It is about changing someone's life so that they can live a happy and productive life as God intends and wants for all people.

- [David] But even as Lydia's Place has grown from 12 beds to 48, they face another obstacle: finding affordable housing for those ready to leave the shelter.

- Right now, we're in a situation where a lot of the people that are here are from here, they want to live here, and we have no inventory of safe housing here.

- [David] Communities nationwide are exploring different approaches to this housing shortage.

Some convert church buildings into permanent supportive housing, others create temporary shelter spaces.

Some are even building tiny home communities on church grounds.

- You're taking people that are living on the street and have no home in their Lydia's Place and they're trying to get 'em on their feet.

- [David] In Asheboro, community leaders are finding their own solution.

They're renovating a vacant church-owned house once home to its pastor and an additional housing for residents of Lydia's Place.

- Even though it's only one house, it's a start.

And to provide a place for a nice family to live and transition from no home or possibly living in a car to their family living in a home.

- [David Voiceover] Beverly England and her daughter Victoria, hope to find a place of their own someday.

For now, Lydia's Place has become more than just a roof over their heads.

- Where do you think you would be if a place like this didn't exist?

- On the streets.

I'd be on the streets.

Right now, we're just in a hard place.

I'm just glad we have this.

It means a lot to me, because there's somebody there that doesn't look down on me, doesn't make me feel like I'm nothing.

I feel like I'm somebody in that group.

[gentle music] - [David] The repurposing of Calvary United Methodist Church into Lydia's Place represents a collaborative effort between members of the faith community and local leaders, illustrating one approach to addressing homelessness.

- We haven't done anything here that's rocket science.

We've worked together through the city and county government, churches and individuals to get at this problem.

And that's something that any community can do.

- [David] And at the end of the day, when one door was closing for the congregation, they opened another for the vulnerable in their community.

[gentle hopeful music] For ncIMPACT, I'm David Hurst.

- Small towns and big cities alike are fighting against homelessness.

We explore a program in Charlotte working to change how we serve those who served us - Today, around 30,000 veterans experience homelessness in America.

This is a lot lower than about a decade ago.

And look at this, decrease in the numbers.

But recently, the pace of progress has virtually plateaued.

From substance use to mental health disorders, the housing and job insecurity, the complexities of veteran homelessness run deep.

But it's often more than just about providing a home.

It's about rebuilding a life.

But in Charlotte, North Carolina, a coalition is working to address this challenge.

They're part of a nationwide movement called Built for Zero, aiming to end veteran homelessness for good.

- We really believe in Charlotte-Mecklenburg that veteran homelessness is solvable.

- The goal?

It's ambitious.

Is it doable?

Let's find out.

[energetic music] For Bryan Wright, military service is a family tradition.

- My granddad was in the army, so he was a big part of my life growing up.

And he always told me, he said, "You'll make a fine soldier one day."

- [David] That tradition led him around the world and he served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But his military career was cut short when he was medically retired due to injury sustained throughout his service.

Back home in Charlotte, things were going well, until the pandemic.

- And as a result, lost my job.

And the bills never stopped.

- [David] With no income to cover rent, Bryan lost his apartment.

Eventually, he found himself living out of his car, scraping together money for hotel rooms when his kids came to visit.

- So it was rough, very rough.

I was at a low point in my life.

- [David] Bryan's story mirrors a concerning trend.

Veterans face a higher risk of homelessness compared to the general population.

This often stems from service-related trauma and the challenges of transitioning to civilian life.

But for years it seemed like we were making progress.

Between 2010 and 2022, veteran homelessness dropped by 52%.

The reason for this decrease is likely due in part to Congress.

With bipartisan support, spending billions on rental aid for unhoused veterans.

Under a federal program, veterans pay 30 to 40% of their income toward rent with the government covering the rest.

As a result, homeless veterans now face significantly shorter waits for rental assistance compared to other groups.

But in 2023, everything changed.

Veteran homelessness began rising again, part of a broader surge across the country.

[indistinct] thinks, this is because of skyrocketing housing costs, rising food prices, and the end of COVID-related support programs.

Yet new data from 2024 reveals a 7.5% decrease in veteran homelessness.

While this recent improvement is encouraging, experts say there's still those underlying challenges of affordable housing and economic stability.

But hold on just a second.

Are these numbers even trustworthy?

You see, most homeless counts rely on something called a PIT count, or point in time count.

It's essentially a single snapshot of homelessness on a given night.

This single night tally of both sheltered and unsheltered individuals then serves as the estimated homeless population for the entire community.

But there's a lot of reasons why counting folks like that could be inaccurate.

First, people experiencing homelessness often move around for safety or to be closer to resources.

PIT counts don't capture those temporarily living on couches or bouncing from one situation to the next, and many homeless individuals remain hidden or resist interviews, further complicating the counts.

As a result, reliable data on homelessness remain scarce.

So in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, they're taking a different approach.

They decided to track homelessness through what's called a by-name list.

It's a real time continuously updated record of every veteran experiencing homelessness in the community.

Unlike annual counts, this list changes daily as veterans enter homelessness or find housing.

- So that's able to give us real time data on not just the number and the amount of people of need, but we're able to break it down to the number of families, the age of the veterans, the race, the gender, their discharge status, all the things that we're able to keep and maintain in real time.

- [David Voiceover] They think this comprehensive data strategy helps them track exactly who needs help and what kind of help they need.

It's part of the Built for Zero initiative.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg takes part in this alongside over 100 communities aiming to end homelessness.

Their goal, something called Functional Zero.

- Functional Zero is being able to say that we have the same amount of resources as we do people seeking those resources.

And that's really where our aim is, is where our inflow and our outflow balance one another.

- [David] Okay, so while Functional Zero doesn't mean eliminating homelessness entirely, it doesn't mean having enough resources to quickly house those who need it.

12 communities have already achieved this goal.

In an effort to be that next community, Charlotte-Mecklenburg has created the Housing Our Heroes Work Group.

It's a coalition that brings together the VA, Mecklenburg County, and veteran-focused nonprofits.

They meet regularly review each veteran's case, track their progress toward housing and work together to remove any barriers.

- I just think it's unfortunate that somebody that has fought for their country has to experience homelessness.

And so anything that I can do or our team can do to help prevent that or move a veteran into permanent housing, we wanna try to do that.

So that's what keeps me going.

- [David] Despite identifying veterans in need and helping them secure rental assistance, the work group faces another major challenge: a shortage of affordable housing units.

- Rental rates just keep going up and up and up.

Charlotte is no different than a lot of other major cities in that respect.

So finding something that veterans can afford can sometimes be challenging.

- [David] And veterans not only need to find affordable housing, but also find a landlord who will rent to them.

Remember that federal voucher I mentioned earlier?

Even when veterans qualify for housing vouchers, they face a race against time to find a landlord who will accept them before they expire.

- And so there's a number of veterans out there that may lose their voucher even before they get housed.

- [David] So this is where a coalition of partnerships becomes key to bringing in all the pieces to make the solution work.

In partnership with a national nonprofit, the work group has secured the park at Forentino Apartment Complex.

A portion of the units will be reserved for veterans.

Acquiring this complex will help close that supply gap and provide local permanent housing and wraparound services.

But folks of the work group understand that housing is just one piece of the puzzle.

Veteran homelessness is intertwined with substance use, mental health challenges, and numerous other complex issues.

That's where their collaboration with nonprofit Veteran Bridge Home comes into play.

- But I mean, as you can see, we have all branches, you know, displayed here all across the world.

- [David] They serve as a connector as their partner network aids veterans in securing an employment, building social connections, and connecting them to mental health resources.

- At Veterans Bridge Home, we try to look at things from a whole health perspective.

So in order for a veteran to be successful, there are a number of things that they, or anybody really needs in their life.

- [David] For Bryan, getting connected to Veteran Bridge Home changed everything.

Like many veterans, a damaged credit score from losing his apartment during COVID made finding new housing nearly impossible.

But the organization connected him with a landlord willing to look beyond that number and give him a chance.

What was that first night like in that apartment?

- I shed a few tears when I walked through the door, I'm not gonna lie.

It was a very peaceful, peaceful night.

- [David] With stable housing, Bryan could finally focus on rebuilding his life.

- I was able to focus more at work and as a result of that, I got the promotion I was trying to get because I didn't have to worry about anything outside of work.

I just could focus on work 'cause I had a place to lay my head, I had a place for my kids to be.

It was just like a breath of fresh air.

Like somebody just gave me that extra push, that hand up.

- [David] Ending veteran homelessness in a community seems like an ambitious goal, but stories like Bryan's show it may be possible.

For ncIMPACT, I'm David Hurst.

- As you know, we're trying something new this season.

We're focusing more on the experts on the ground.

Thank you to the local experts featured in this episode who so generously allowed us to share their inspirational stories of working with others.

And thank you to you, our amazing audience for watching and engaging at such high levels.

Let me know what you think about the new format.

I also always love hearing about the solutions you know of when we do what we do best as North Carolinians: We work together.

Tell us what your community is doing or how we can help you.

Email us at ncIMPACT@unc.edu or message us on Facebook or LinkedIn.

And be sure to join us every Friday night at 7:30 on PBS North Carolina for new episodes of ncIMPACT.

[energetic music] - [Announcer] ncIMPACT is a PBS North Carolina production in association with the University of North Carolina School of Government.

Funding for ncIMPACT is made possible by- - [Narrator] Changing the course of people's lives, that's the impact UNC Health and the UNC School of Medicine work to deliver every day.

Our 40,000 team members across the state of North Carolina are committed to caring for you, our patients and communities, as well as educating the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Individually, we can do a little, but collectively we can do a lot to create impact.