76 Business View Magazine - September 2016
a 61 percent poverty rate and has had many homes
in need of major repair, vacant lots, and boarded-up
and abandoned houses. “Going back to its founding in
Durham in 1986, Habitat has produced approximately
350 new build or rehabilitated homes in that targeted
area,” he adds.
Another housing development outside of Durham’s
Southside revitalization that is widely recognized, is
a housing development known as the Denson Apart-
ments for Veterans. Community Development Director
Johnson explains further: “Denson Apartments for Vet-
erans are two apartment complexes developed sepa-
rately on the same site in partnership with a non-profit
development organization called CASA.”
“CASA is the acronym for Community Alternatives for
Supportive Abodes,” says Project Manager Smith.
“They have several hundred units that they’ve built,
own, and manage in Raleigh, North Carolina, and sev-
eral years ago, they came to Durham. They provide
permanent housing for formerly homeless persons
with disabilities. For Denson I and Denson II, CASA
was primarily targeting homeless veterans with dis-
abilities because there’s a shortage of veteran hous-
ing in Durham. Denson is named after a retired federal
judge, Alex Denson, who is an advocate for homeless
populations and also served on CASA’s board for many
years. The project is built on less than two acres and
consists of two phases. Phase I provided 11 one-bed-
room apartments, a community room and some out-
door space. That development is completed and fully
occupied at this moment. Phase II is nearing comple-
tion with a projected September 2016 opening, and
will provide 12 additional, one-bedroom apartments
for veterans.”
