DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – A single mom up against a deadline to find a place to new home came to CBS 17 to get answers.
With a lack of affordable housing options in Durham, Tarisha Burton fears she may not have anywhere to turn.
“The clock is ticking for me, so I have to be out by March,” said Burton.
Burton relies on Section 8 housing. Her current landlord is selling the house she has called home for the past seven years and she’s been searching for a new place for more than a month.
“When I find them…they want to put you in the roughest part of the neighborhood. And I can’t do that,” said Burton. “I have to worry every day about our safety.”
The CEO of the Durham Housing Authority says there’s not enough affordable housing to meet the need.
“For public housing, it’s a little over 3,000 people that’s on the waiting list and that’s for a total around 1,800 units – 1,876 units, to be more specific,” said Durham Housing Authority CEO Anthony Scott.
But he’s working to change that.
“On the public housing side, we are working to redevelop each and every one of our public housing sites. So we have a total of 16 sites throughout the city and for the ones that are older, we are looking to tear down and rebuild as mixed-income communities,” said Scott.
For the Burton family, that help won’t come soon enough.
“So what I need is somebody who is going to be willing to take on Section 8 clients like me and my daughter in a decent neighborhood that’s willing to help us out,” said Burton.
She has until March 31 to find a new home.
