jmccann@heraldsun.com; 419-6601
DURHAM — Those looking to honor Martin Luther King Jr. with a day of service today may drop in at the site of Housing for New Hope’s forthcoming Williams Square Apartments, which is set to open its doors in the spring to two dozen homeless people.
Participants are asked to wear shoes with hard soles, long pants, something with sleeves and gloves when they show up between 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 501 E. Carver St. Parking is available only along Carver Street.
Organizers are targeting the cleanup of a creek that runs through the property and eventually into the Eno River. The idea with picking up trash and recyclable items is to transform spaces into pathways, including meditation areas for residents and their guests.
Housing for New Hope is a nonprofit organization working to eradicate homelessness by sowing in homeless people seeds the organization hopes will lead to stability and independence. The organization does that through providing street outreach to homeless people, as well as crisis assistance. Housing for New Hope also provides transitional and permanent housing.
Williams Square Apartments, near Oxford Commons shopping center on North Roxboro Street, is named in honor of the late Bull City homeless advocate Alphonso Williams. The units will provide a place to stay for 24 homeless people with disabling conditions. Their rent will be below market rate, Housing for New Hope Development Director Eric Breit said.
The tenants haven’t been selected. The application process for occupants is being developed, Breit said.
February was the anticipated date for occupancy, but the really cold weather made it tough to pour asphalt for the parking lot, Breit said. Now it looks like tenants will move in sometime in March, he said.
The site is costing $2.2 million to develop. Housing for New Hope has raised almost all of what it costs for the project from more than 20 public and private donors, including $732,000 from the city, Breit said.
There still is a need to come up with about $60,000, including $35,000 for renewable energy features for which donors would be eligible for a state tax credit, he said.
As well, $10,000 is needed to outfit the community center on the site, and more sponsors are desired to join the other 15 who are seeing to it that all 24 rooms are furnished for those making the transition from homelessness.
“Folks coming out of the woods, they’re not gonna bring much with them,” Breit explained.
