The New Hanover Community Endowment announced $14 million in housing program grants Monday, September 30.
These grants mark the first investments based on the Endowment’s housing strategy unveiled earlier this year.
The grants will help address the fact that 35% of households in New Hanover County are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of household income on housing expenses.
The Endowment promised $19 million in housing investments in 2024: this announcement includes $14 million in investments. Endowment Network Officer Terri Burhans said “There are still grants coming in. It is a rolling cycle for 2024, and we have some applications currently under review as well that will be going in front of the grants committee and the board in October, and November.”
The largest grant supports Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity. Development Director Christina Ferris says the $3.5 million grant will help build an entire neighborhood of affordable homes much more quickly.
“This is really a transformational grant for us. It is supporting construction in Haven place, which is a 35-home neighborhood in Castle Hayne,” she said.
The investment also frees up Habitat to invest other money into land acquisition: an important tactic as land costs are rising rapidly in the county.
The Endowment’s other grants will go to 14 additional projects, serving nonprofits ranging from Good Shepherd Center to the Wilmington Realtors Foundation.
New H.O.P.E. CDC, a local non-profit, received a total of $3 million to purchase and repair 12 units of housing on Nixon Street. CEO Robert Campbell says the organization plans to renovate the property and reduce rents for existing and future tenants from $1,800 for a 3-bedroom to $900-$1050.
“Thanks to the Endowment, this property now belongs to the community and will remain affordable housing for generations to come,” Campbell said. “In addition, we’ve been awarded $600,000 in capacity building funds – $200,000 over the next three years – to further support our efforts in making affordable housing a reality.”
These grants are largely to individual organizations. The Endowment did not fund any housing projects in 2023, citing a lack of a “collaborative plan, cooperative plan,” according to Board Chair Bill Cameron.
This new tranche of funding doesn’t entail cooperative grants. Burhans says they’re still collaborative, though. “So the collaboration is in getting to know this ecosystem, and getting this first step out the door in housing, we are actually watching some of those collaborations come together,” she said. “But certainly there are partners out there working together. Cape Fear Collective is working closely with the land trust, you have Habitat for Humanity, who is working closely with Backyard Housing. There are partnerships that are forming, or have formed during this process that I think you're going to hear more about in the future.”
A full list of the grants is available below:
