The Durham Rescue Mission is going back to the drawing board after the city council earlier this month voted to include its properties in a new historic district.
The inclusion of the mission’s properties in the Golden Belt Local Historic District means that its buildings and renovations will have to meet historic district standards, increasing costs for the Durham nonprofit that assists the city’s poor and homeless people.
“How to build a brand new historic house, I don’t have that wisdom yet,” said Ernie Mills, founder and CEO of the Durham Rescue Mission. “I need some help.”
“It looks like we’ve got to build historic-looking houses on vacant lots,” Mills continued.
Mills said he’s hoping to find “some good architects” that are good at historic district construction to advise him and the mission.
He said the organization plans to continue its mission.
“We’re not about to stop,” Mills said. “We’ll press on.”
Citing the importance of education as a way out of poverty, Mills said the mission will continue with plans to build 24-unit dormitory so that its graduates can attend school at Durham Technical Community College or N.C. Central University.
The dormitory building is adjacent to the mission’s church building and not in the historic district, Mills said.
“We’ve got those under construction now,” Mills said. “That should be finished by April or May.”
On Sept. 6, the Durham City Council voted 4-3 to approve the historic district in its entirety. The rescue mission had asked that most of its lots, including 15 that are vacant, be excluded from the historic district. The mission said it wanted to build a community center and low-income housing on its property.
Mills said the community center would have had a gymnasium and community conference room, but, because of the council decision, “it looks like the community center is out,” Mills said.
“[The council] didn’t want that size of a building in that district,” Mills said.
Mills said the mission had hoped to build low-income, single-family housing on its other lots, but that may not be possible because the level of regulations on new housing in the historic district would add to building costs. A contractor who has worked in other historic districts estimated the cost of meeting those regulations would raise the cost of construction from $80 a square foot to $150.
“We don’t go in debt,” Mills said. “We raise the money and then we build. When you give everything away, it’s dangerous to go in debt.”
Mills said every member of the City Council would say that affordable housing is one of the greatest needs in Durham. But “That vote was completely contrary to affordable housing,” Mills said. “It will add costs to the construction.”
Mills noted that the mission isn’t asking the city or any governmental agency for money to build affordable housing.
“I believe in people helping people,” Mills said. “I remember John F. Kennedy saying ask not what my country can do for me, but what can I do for my country. That’s been our philosophy at the Durham Rescue Mission.”