Durham Reporter

The Harriet Tubman YWCA had a heyday in the mid-1950s when it served as a center for community events and gatherings. Though it has deteriorated into an empty shell of itself, it might yet experience the glory days again.

Durham community members met with elected officials this week to accept $1 million in community project funding toward renovating the building and converting it to affordable housing, a recent WTVD news release said. That prospect makes civil rights activist Virginia Williams happy.

"We are really going to have some more good times here, I can see it," Williams told WTVD. "And these people who put this together, they have the belief and the know-how to do it and they know they can do it and we're going to back them."

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is responsible for administering the economic development investment grant and noted that the funding recognizes the initiative in the community; U.S. Rep. David Price, chairman of the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee and representative of the 4th District of North Carolina, said in the release.

"This is support that rewards initiative, and that rewards partnership and that rewards those that get their act together and decide what they're going to do in the community and get it done and that's the spirit here," Price told WTVD. "I think it's the spirit that's behind this project and it's certainly the spirit that's behind this funding."

Under the HUD grant, the building will provide shelter for individuals who meet earnings parameters that are below the area median income. At least four units will be set aside for those who have been homeless or those from other special-needs groups.

Durham County Commissioner Brenda Howerton commented that the renovation helps shed light on housing problems in the area.

"What I've seen — this project can impact the lives of so many people," she told WTVD. "And what I've seen is the devastation of the communities and people not having a place to live."

To augment the $1 million HUD grant, the North Carolina finance agency will kick in a $600,000 no-interest supportive housing development loan, the release said. The Durham City Council is also considering a $1.6 million affordable housing grant. 

While that should be enough to get things started, more money will likely still be needed to complete the project.