From Sanctuary To Senior Housing, Milner Commons Reflects Shifting Needs

By Ashley Fredde

Sunlight pours done stained solid windows onto rows of woody pews that, connected occasion, still clasp hymnals. But Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church, wherever those aforesaid windows erstwhile illuminated play worship, is gone. In its spot stands Milner Commons, an affordable lodging analyzable for older adults that is designed to sphere pieces of nan church’s past while serving a caller purpose.

North Carolina faces a deepening affordable lodging shortage, pinch estimates suggesting nan authorities would request to adhd betwixt 200,000 and much than 700,000 rental and for-sale units to meet request done 2029, according to a 2024 study commissioned by nan NC Chamber Foundation. That strain falls hardest connected highly low-income households — wherever 73 percent of low-income renters walk much than half their income connected housing, said a nationalist analysis. This lodging load leaves small room for different essentials specified arsenic nutrient and aesculapian care.

For seniors connected fixed incomes, nan state’s broader lodging shortage often translates into less options to property safely and independently — a spread that nonprofits are trying to capable done organization partnerships. 

One of them, Raleigh-based nonprofit DHIC, has worked to create affordable lodging opportunities for families, seniors and group pinch disabilities aliases transitioning from homelessness done redevelopment aliases renewal for much than 50 years. That includes nan caller 156-unit Milner analyzable successful eastbound Raleigh wrong nan Beltline.

The reimagined property, Milner Commons, is typical of imaginative partnerships betwixt nonprofit developers and faith-based institutions that person sprung from nan increasing request for affordable lodging arsenic North Carolina’s shortage deepens — and older adults are priced out. 

New wineskins

Around nan world, aged churches are finding caller uses for their accommodation arsenic accepted congregations shrink. Church leaders are having to make challenging decisions astir what to do pinch their properties — converting each aliases parts of them into cafes, time attraction centers aliases homeless shelters — based connected organization needs. 

For galore religion leaders, these conversions consciousness for illustration an hold of their original mission. And providing affordable housing is simply a premier example. 

“I would reason that that committedness to our ngo and to nan communities that we service and to our residents is portion of nan logic that we’re seeing truthful galore different faith-based institutions travel to america specifically,” said Kayla Rosenberg Strampe, DHIC head of endeavor strategy and development.

That’s what happened pinch Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church. Organized successful 1923, nan religion built connected nan spot connected New Bern Avenue successful 1955. The congregation had its last service successful March 2019. 

When nan congregation began to dwindle successful nan precocious 2010s, it was decided that erstwhile it was disbanded nan spot would revert to nan Presbytery of New Hope, a Mid-Council of nan Presbyterian Church. DHIC and The Presbyterian Homes Inc. (now Brightspire) were moving together astatine nan clip to renovate different erstwhile religion property, Capital Towers, which became a two-building 297-unit elder flat community.

That task sparked a business and improvement exemplary that would pave nan measurement for Milner Commons, different erstwhile religion spot transformed into affordable housing.

“For a batch of them, it’s a very affectional infinitesimal to make nan determination to adjacent down a religion aliases immoderate different type of belief institution,” Strampe added. “It’s not nan aforesaid arsenic a section store. It’s nan spot wherever personification sewage married, nan spot wherever their kid was baptized. It’s a spot they’ve travel for years for organization services.”

DHIC has grown a portfolio of almost 4,000 units crossed Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, and it has communities crossed 9 counties, according to Yolanda Winstead, president and CEO. Preservation, erstwhile possible, is besides a portion of nan nonprofit’s work.

In immoderate cases, that tin beryllium difficult, particularly erstwhile it comes to affordable housing. 

“Not each building aliases each onshore useful retired for affordable housing. There are earthy and man made aspects to religion onshore that tin beryllium really problematic — for illustration a graveyard,” Strampe said. For instance, nan religion and property’s namesake, Henry Herman Milner, who endowed nan building of nan 1955 structure, is buried successful nan cemetery that’s connected 1 area of nan property.

The erstwhile religion couldn’t beryllium converted and required demolition. As a compromise, nan stained solid windows and pews were preserved, and nan creation featured high, vaulted ceilings reminiscent of nan church. 

“(Churches) are recognizing that nan exemplary is changing and that having these underutilized buildings and parcels of onshore are really problematic for them from a financial perspective. But often they want to prosecute successful benignant of an hold of their ain ngo successful nan community,” Strampe said. “I deliberation nan thought of affordable housing, peculiarly these days for seniors, which whitethorn beryllium because a batch of nan congregations are becoming older, I deliberation that’s thing that resonates pinch them.”

Affordable lodging mightiness not beryllium enough

The spot features 10 workplace units, 122 one-bedroom and one-bath units and 24 two-bedroom and one-bath units. Amenities see communal laundry accommodation on pinch laundry hook-ups successful each unit, a organization lounge, room and crippled room, a reflection room, tenant retention areas, fittingness rooms and a nutrient pantry. Milner Commons rents are priced for individuals pinch incomes astatine aliases beneath 60 percent of area median income for Wake County. 

Part of nan nonprofit’s ngo is to supply infrastructure for wellness and stability, not simply a tile overhead.

“(We) recovered it basal to afloat service nan folks that we’re providing lodging to by coordinating resident services aliases programming into nan communities,” Winstead said. 

Some of that programming includes participating successful National Night Out, an yearly community-building run that promotes police-community partnerships and vicinity closeness; a tutoring programme provided done business pinch students astatine N.C. State; and coordinating pinch Advanced Community Health to bring a mobile wellness session for superior wellness attraction visits. 

For Milner Commons, that includes resident services done nan nonprofit Resources for Seniors, which has unit connected nan spot respective times a week. The extremity is to thief supply services to residents truthful they tin proceed to unrecorded independently and property successful spot successful a caring, supportive environment. 

LaTonya Mckoy, head of resident services, useful to supply that attraction to each Milner Commons residents. On a caller tour, she greeted each resident by name, exhorting 1 to “keep up nan bully work” arsenic he made laps pinch his walker. 

For 2 residents, Milner moreover served arsenic nan commencement of a caller life together. The mates met astatine an arena earlier some independently moving into nan community. Once there, they began making love and yet moved into a location they purchased together, Mckoy said. 

But arsenic residents proceed to property beyond independent surviving and nan affordability lodging situation continues, Winstead worries astir really that spread will beryllium bridged. 

“We can’t spend those kinds of services successful nan communities that we’re developing, and we’re not equipped to supply those services,” Winstead said. “And frankly, our residents don’t person nan financial wealthiness to beryllium capable to salary for those types of services.”

“Trying to build a span for low-income folks transitioning from being capable to unrecorded independently to immoderate spot wherever you cognize their needs tin beryllium met — we don’t person immoderate scheme for really to span that,” she added. “We cognize it’s connected nan horizon. We admit successful our ain portfolio that there’s a request here, that we’ve sewage to fig retired really we tin commencement to beryllium helpful.”

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