200 families living in the McDougald Terrace public housing complex in Durham have been temporarily moved into hotels because of ongoing problems with carbon monoxide. The Durham Housing Authority put in place a voluntary evacuation order Friday as it conducts testing at the units.
More than a dozen residents have been hospitalized with elevated carbon monoxide levels. This is the latest incident in an ongoing affordable housing crisis hitting some of North Carolina’s largest cities. DHA Chief Executive Anthony Scott says their Durham properties are in bad shape — and that is a result of decades of dwindling funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
WUNC reporter Jason DeBruyn joins host Frank Stasio to put the story in context and share his reporting on the response from both residents and local public officials.