A small apartment community is reborn to continue serving people with mental disabilities

Riley Henderson, who formerly struggled with homelessness, discusses life at the newly renovated Driftwood Apartments in Wilmington. (Photo: Greg Childress)

On a quiet morning in July, Riley Henderson sat at a cement table in the courtyard of the recently renovated 15-unit Driftwood Apartments in Wilmington to discuss how he landed in the permanent supportive housing complex for people with disabilities who have experienced homelessness.

The bespectacled 20-year-old Henderson shared with NC Newsline that he suffers from anxiety and depression and has experienced a lot of family-related trauma in his relatively short lifetime.

“Right after graduation [from high school], my parents started being hostile,” said Henderson, who has worked for a major grocery chain. “They’re the reason I wound up in the homeless shelter.”

Behind his wire-framed glasses, Riley’s eyes twinkle when he talks about his twin passions — meteorology and motorsports. They grow dark like rain clouds when he discusses what he described as an abusive relationship with his parents and a recent 14-month stay in a Wilmington homeless shelter.

Slight of build and well-mannered, Henderson wasn’t prepared for rough-and-tumble shelter living.

“The worst part of it was all the dangers around me — all the drugs, hostile people, people who were desperate for things,” Henderson said. “I had a lot of expensive belongings at the time that a lot of people were jealous to see me with. I ended up getting a lot of it stolen.”

The move to Driftwood Apartments in June was a positive turning point for Henderson.

“I get to have privacy to be able to do what I want to do and I get to have freedom to relax,” Henderson said. “Basically, I have freedom from the shackles of having to be in that shelter.”

Rescuing a valuable community resource

As defined by the National Alliance to End Homelessness , permanent supportive housing combines affordable housing assistance with support services to address the needs of chronically homeless people. The services are designed to build independent living and tenancy skills and connect people with community-based health care, treatment and employment services.

A few years ago, after 15 years, Driftwood was nearly lost as permanent supportive housing for people such as Henderson after its affordability period ended. Built in 2003, the developer used low-income tax credits to reduce its tax bill in exchange for keeping the apartments affordable for 20 years.

According to local media accounts, APG Capital, a Raleigh-based developer, decided to put the property up for sale in 2021 contending it had become too costly to maintain. That put the apartment complex at risk of being converted to market-rate housing by a new owner.

The Cape Fear Collective (CFC), a nonprofit in New Hanover County that works to create systemic change in the southeastern part of the state, stepped in to buy Driftwood for $1.2 million. CFC received a $700,000 forgivable loan from the City of Wilmington’s affordable housing program to rehabilitate Driftwood, which had been neglected and left in disrepair.

“It was forced to close down, and tenants moved out, and it looked like it was going to be sold at market, so likely a developer or investor would have purchased the property and used it for something else,” said Cara Stretch, CEO of the CFC.

Stretch said there is a critical need for permanent supportive housing in Wilmington and that CFC is committed to keeping Driftwood affordable.

“This population tends to have disabilities and mental health concerns, so we have a case manager on site all of the time, but I think the real motivation was that this community really, really desperately needs supportive housing,” Stretch said.

The Good Shepherd Center , the region’s largest provider of homeless services, will provide on-site case management to support residents, while Norco Management will oversee the property’s management services.

Henderson and other residents began to move into the newly renovated apartments in June but Driftwood officially reopened July 25 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the courtyard where Henderson shared his story.

“This really celebrates the resurrection of permanent, supportive housing in the community,” Katrina Knight, executive director of the Good Shepherd Center, told NC Newsline. “[Driftwood] is for people who are particularly vulnerable to losing their housing because of limited income or because of other special challenges and who arguably have the hardest time regaining housing and holding on to it.”

A model for addressing a chronic problem

Exploding housing costs in Wilmington — rents have increased more than 50% over the past five years — present major challenges for unhoused residents with mental disabilities and other vulnerable populations, Knight said.

Fifty-three percent of renters — 20,130 households — in New Hanover County have difficulty affording their homes, according to a recent report by the N.C. Housing Coalition . Families that spend more than 30% of income on housing are considered cost-burdened.

“Even folks who maybe have a salaried job are really feeling that pinch,” Knight said. “The further you go down on the income scale, the more challenging it is for people. If you have a significant disability, have no income or you’re relegated to disability assistance or SSI [Supplemental Security Income], it is very hard to compete with the rest of us in this particular climate.”

Some Driftwood residents have no income. A goal of permanent supportive housing is to help tenants navigate the sometimes difficult processes of securing the resources they are eligible to receive, Knight said.

“If you’re really living up to the permanent supportive housing model, you are housing people even before they have income, Knight said. “The first goal is to get people off of the streets, out of shelters where they’ve kinda got stuck for a year or more, out of their cars.”

Even if a tenant never receives government assistance, they can continue to live at Driftwood, Knight said.

“A lot of the people that we work with have no income toward rent and utilities, or at best they might have $250 a month to work with,” Knight said. “We’ll be working with them to help them through wha can be a very difficult process to navigate, and that is applying for disability assistance but they can live here even if that never comes to fruition.”

Knight said Wilmington needs an additional 100 or more such units to support unhoused residents with disabilities who have limited or no income. The Good Shepherd Center is developing as many as 70 such additional units across several sites, she said.

“This looks like a small effort [Driftwood], 15 apartments doesn’t sound like a lot but for our community, they’re 15 exceedingly valuable apartments,” Knight said.

The N.C. Department of Health & Human Services Strategic Housing Plan published in March 2023 calls for the agency to support the “creation of 3,500 PSH [permanent supportive housing] opportunities, both through new construction and rehabilitation of existing properties.

“ Research shows that PSH is effective for those with more severe disabilities and complex needs — including people with severe mental illness, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), people impacted by substance use and substance use disorder, those experiencing chronic homelessness, and people exiting institutions,” the strategic housing plan said.

The research also shows that such housing is cost effective for people with co-occurring conditions who are experiencing homelessness and frequently use costly emergency and institutional services, the plan says. And overall, PSH results in positive outcomes on health, including behavioral health, as well as overall housing stability, according to the plan.

Amy Brundle, marketing and communications manager for National Alliance on Mental Illness NC (NAMI), said there is huge need for affordable housing for people coming out of incarceration and inpatient treatment.

“These populations need additional community resources to allow them to develop independence and self-sufficiency, so they can become productive members of their communities and avoid homelessness,” Brundle said. “NAMI North Carolina will continue to meet with government agencies, officials, and lawmakers to ensure we have a seat at the table, so that we can emphasize the importance of addressing this further need for affordable, supportive housing in North Carolina.”

LaShanna Fennell, 39, a Fayetteville native found herself in Wilmington with no income and without a roof over her head.

Fennell sees Driftwood as an opportunity to turn her life around. She talks about the apartment complex’s proximity to Cape Fear Community College and UNC Wilmington.

“I’ve thought about becoming a CNA [certified nursing assistant] but becoming a medical assistant is probably better,” Fennell said.

Before moving into Driftwood, Fennell spent five months at Good Shepherd. She said her stay at the shelter for unhoused people occurred after she was illegally evicted from her apartment.

Fennell said she wish she’d sought help sooner. She encourages anyone who needs help with housing or assistance with their mental or physical health to seek help sooner rather than later.

“They’re great with help at the Good Shepherd, helping to put your name on the list for housing and having resources and contacts to get your help,” Fennell said.