Skip to Content

Affordable Senior Living in the Heart of Durham

Ashton Place, providing senior living, is adjacent to its companion property, Willard Street, designed for all ages. Together, the two provide full-circle housing to Durham’s residents and allow seniors to age in place.

Self-Help’s affordable housing development work goes back to the mid-1990s. As Self-Help’s Real Estate Team focuses on solutions to the housing crisis, our approach has broadened to include rental housing development and preservation. This work has been added to our long-standing efforts to support home ownership. Through our work in the affordable housing space, we are helping revitalize neighborhoods throughout N.C. and, increasingly, across the country.

Ashton Place Apartments (Durham, N.C.)

Completed in the summer of 2024, Ashton Place Apartments in Durham, N.C., offers 51 units of attractive, modern and most importantly, affordable senior housing serving low-income residents. Developed in partnership with DHIC, a Triangle-area affordable housing nonprofit, these lovely homes received strong community support: The Durham City Council committed $3,050,000 in local housing funds and donated the vacant land where the development stands. Other financing came through Low Income Housing Tax Credits and through Duke University, the Oak Foundation and the A.J. Fletcher Foundation. This community collaboration provides Durham’s residents with high-quality affordable housing, making accessible the features and amenities that make Durham special, such as its historic downtown, its modern transit center, access to world-class healthcare, the nearby Senior Center and the Durham Bulls ballpark. The property is fully leased, with a long waitlist.   

Ashton Place, serving senior residents, is a perfect addition to its companion property, Willard Street, also developed by Self-Help, with 82 affordable apartment homes for modest wage earners of all ages. As such, the two together provide full-circle housing to Durham’s residents and allow seniors to age in place.

Artist and resident Rene’e Valentine recently moved from Willard St. into Ashton Place and enjoys creating her vibrant paintings in her new space.

Self-Help is responsive to the needs of our communities. Where our previous focus was on single-family homes, we have shifted to include a broad spectrum of housing types, including high-quality, affordable rental units. Adding senior living at Ashton Place to our existing Willard Street Apartments creates a full-circle experience for residents to be able to age in place.