EmPOWERment director Delores Bailey reflects on affordable housing in Chapel Hill

In 2001, Delores Bailey was laid off from her job at a boat manufacturing company. 

She had long been a resident of Chapel Hill — living on North Graham Street — but was only acutely aware of the existence of EmPOWERment, Inc.

 After meeting the organization’s former executive director, Mark Chilton — who would later become the mayor of Carrboro and register of deeds for Orange County — she began working as an EmPOWERment community organizer.

Within four years of being hired, Bailey was promoted from community organizer to co-director and finally, executive director.

“When I understood the power of EmPOWERment — which was created by two students from UNC — and the community, when I understood what the community was trying to do through EmPOWERment, it made me sign up," Bailey said. "And I was hooked from that point on."

EmPOWERment is a grassroots organization advocating for and creating affordable housing in Chapel Hill and its surrounding areas. Bailey said the organization's core team consists of five Black women, including herself, who have worked together for the past 12 years. 

The Town of Chapel Hill manages over 300 affordable housing units, but there are over 12,000 residents below the poverty line. EmPOWERment is currently in the process of building an affordable housing apartment complex — the PEACH apartments — with 10 rental units. 

The units are particularly aimed to house those who make 30 percent or less of the area's median income and are considered “extremely low income.” 

According to data from the Town of Chapel Hill, an individual would have to make $25.29 per hour to rent a standard two-bedroom, moderately priced unit in today’s housing market. North Carolina’s minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.

“Those are the people that take your tickets at the movie theater," Bailey said. "Those are people that are at Hardee's and Wendy's and all those drive-through places that you go to. Those are the people that are teacher's assistants at schools for the kids. Those are people that sweep the floors and mop the floors at your university. They can't afford to live here."

She said that in many apartment complexes, there are a few units designated as affordable housing, but oftentimes are limited to those who earn 60 to 80 percent of the area's median income.

In an ideal world, Bailey said, she would make the affordable housing system more equitable. She said she would designate some units to be affordable rentals and ask UNC to create housing for their employees. 

The PEACH apartments were funded, in part, by the Town of Chapel Hill, who helped them reach their goal of $3.5 million.

“EmPOWERment is one of our key affordable housing partners,” Sarah Viñas, director of affordable housing and community connections for the Town of Chapel Hill, said. “They are one of the primary organizations in the community that provides affordable rental housing to low income people in the community.”

The apartments will be located on a plot of land formerly owned by the Town. They will be within walking distance of the University and its hospital.

“That's a new big step for them to develop more than one or two units at a time. And the Town has put substantial funding into it,” Emily Holt, Chapel Hill’s affordable housing development officer, said.

On Sept. 13, the Chapel Hill Town Council approved a new Affordable Housing Plan and Investment Strategy, the completion of which will require $50 million over five years.

“We are that organization that's looking at communities and families and individuals and looking at the barriers – the natural barriers, the color of your skin, the language you speak, the zip code you live in, your gender – and we are addressing them,” Bailey said. “We are empowering people to overcome those barriers in their life.”

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