Durham, North Carolina

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Rare & Brief · Monthly Partner Update · August 2026

“I had to pinch myself a couple of times.”

August 2026 update: the final weeks of our most ambitious sprint yet — aiming to house 63 neighbors in five weeks.

Sent by the HOPE Team · Durham Community Safety Department

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The opening word

For Tony, 27, home had been a car — him, his dogs, and no air conditioning through a Durham summer. Then the May–June Housing Sprint team from Housing for New Hope and the Community Safety Department stayed in his corner, and 38 days after the paperwork began, he opened the door of an apartment he chose. “I had to pinch myself a couple of times,” he told us. Read Tony’s story, in his own words.

That is the pace we are working to hold for many more neighbors: we are now in our August–September sprint alongside Family Promise of the Triangle, Families Moving Forward, and Urban Ministries of Durham. This sprint is our most ambitious yet — we aim to house 63 people across 30 households in five weeks. Some fresh news: the sprint’s first move-in happens today.

The big numbers · this sprint

63
People we aim to house this sprint
16
Adult households
14
Families with children

Thirty households in all, across five weeks. These are aims, not results — we report back against them in early September.

Partner spotlight · celebrations

  • Families Moving Forward. This past quarter, FMF recorded their lowest length of stay and highest rate of moves to permanent housing in any quarter of the last five years. An incredible achievement — especially to see both in the same quarter.
  • Urban Ministries of Durham, Family Promise of the Triangle, and Families Moving Forward. Housing stabilization case managers have been pushing hard, working shoulder to shoulder to move neighbors toward a lease.
  • Open Table Ministry. For their leadership in helping to craft this White Flag season, and for already coordinating with other agencies to move that process along.
  • HOM, Inc. Staff met with numerous providers over the past month to introduce themselves and their role. They have also dived right into the sprint as our fiscal administrator and will be disbursing checks.

What we learned this month

The clearest lesson of the sprint: the process can move as fast as providers are resourced to move it. A neighbor we had lost touch with for several weeks reconnected — and within three days we had renewed contact, shown units, and submitted applications. Speed is not a personality trait; it is what happens when the resources and processes are in place.

We are also learning to communicate in more varied ways. At the Executive Table’s request, we built a visual showing how the Flexible Housing Assistance Fund will work in the system — we think it will be useful well beyond the Table, and you can find it in the brief on how the Fund works. One naming note: the rental assistance behind our sprints — structured as rapid re-housing since the first sprint in February — now has a formal name, Homeward Durham. It is one of the programs the Flexible Housing Assistance Fund will support.

We also met with frontline staff, a partner’s board of directors, coalitions focused on health and safety, and many other partners — each a space for connection, questions, creative thinking, and a deeper shared understanding of the Strategic Framework. We hope to do much more of this in the months ahead.

Finally, we are learning what regional collaboration can look like: we are working closely with colleagues in Wake County and Raleigh, sharing insights and plans so that the work there can be enriched by regional approaches and knowledge.

From the tables · governance in motion

  • Executive Table. The Table met twice this month, reviewing everything from Homeward Durham to the Flexible Housing Assistance Fund to how we partner with one another more effectively.
  • Champions Table. Formation is underway, and the Table is on track to be stood up in Q2.
  • Lived Experience Table. Formation is likewise underway, with the Table on track to be stood up in Q2.
  • CoC Governing Board. The CoC interlocal agreement has now been approved by both the City and the County — keeping us on track to stand up the new Governing Board in the next one to two months.

Looking ahead · September

  • Early September. The sprint window closes, and we report back on the results against the 63-person aim.
  • Early September. Communications on the reformation of the CoC Governing Board, now that the interlocal agreement has been approved by both the City and the County.
  • Mid-September. We start standing up the process for Homeward Durham to be used in steady-state case conferencing, accessible outside of sprints.
  • Late September. We start standing up the process for the Flexible Housing Assistance Fund to bust barriers for other housing programs — rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, vouchers, and more.

The work is yours as much as anyone’s. Here is one way to help this month:

List a unit · Give · Volunteer Download the PDF