By Ashley Fredde
Sunlight pours through stained glass windows onto rows of wooden pews that, on occasion, still hold hymnals. But Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church, where those same windows once illuminated weekly worship, is gone. In its place stands Milner Commons, an affordable housing complex for older adults that is designed to preserve pieces of the church’s past while serving a new purpose.
North Carolina faces a deepening affordable housing shortage, with estimates suggesting the state would need to add between 200,000 and more than 700,000 rental and for-sale units to meet demand through 2029, according to a 2024 study commissioned by the NC Chamber Foundation. That strain falls hardest on extremely low-income households — where 73 percent of low-income renters spend more than half their income on housing, said a national analysis. This housing burden leaves little room for other essentials such as food and medical care.
For seniors on fixed incomes, the state’s broader housing shortage often translates into fewer options to age safely and independently — a gap that nonprofits are trying to fill through community partnerships.
One of them, Raleigh-based nonprofit DHIC, has worked to create affordable housing opportunities for families, seniors and people with disabilities or transitioning from homelessness through redevelopment or renovation for more than 50 years. That includes the new 156-unit Milner complex in eastern Raleigh inside the Beltline.
The reimagined property, Milner Commons, is representative of creative partnerships between nonprofit developers and faith-based institutions that have sprung from the growing need for affordable housing as North Carolina’s shortage deepens — and older adults are priced out.
New wineskins
Around the world, old churches are finding new uses for their facilities as traditional congregations shrink. Church leaders are having to make challenging decisions about what to do with their properties — converting all or parts of them into cafes, day care centers or homeless shelters — based on community needs.
For many faith leaders, these conversions feel like an extension of their original mission. And providing affordable housing is a prime example.
“I would argue that that commitment to our mission and to the communities that we serve and to our residents is part of the reason that we’re seeing so many different faith-based institutions come to us specifically,” said Kayla Rosenberg Strampe, DHIC director of enterprise strategy and development.
That’s what happened with Milner Memorial Presbyterian Church. Organized in 1923, the church built on the property on New Bern Avenue in 1955. The congregation had its final service in March 2019.
When the congregation began to dwindle in the late 2010s, it was decided that when it was disbanded the property would revert to the Presbytery of New Hope, a Mid-Council of the Presbyterian Church. DHIC and The Presbyterian Homes Inc. (now Brightspire) were working together at the time to renovate another former church property, Capital Towers, which became a two-building 297-unit senior apartment community.
That project sparked a partnership and development model that would pave the way for Milner Commons, another former church property transformed into affordable housing.
“For a lot of them, it’s a very emotional moment to make the decision to close down a church or any other type of religious institution,” Strampe added. “It’s not the same as a department store. It’s the place where somebody got married, the place where their child was baptized. It’s a place they’ve come for years for community services.”
DHIC has grown a portfolio of almost 4,000 units across Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, and it has communities across nine counties, according to Yolanda Winstead, president and CEO. Preservation, when possible, is also a part of the nonprofit’s work.
Staff member of Milner Commons shows photograph of residents who held a birthday party in one of the common spaces at Milner Commons. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
One of Milner Commons units are pictured after a resident’s move out. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
A tour is given at one of Milner Commons’s buildings. The building is one of several on the property dedicated to affordable housing for seniors. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
Lights comes through stained-glass window saved from the former church in the residents hallway. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
When the new buildings went up, the old church was demolished, but the nonprofit saved stained glass windows for use throughout the complex. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
The buildings feature several common spaces for residents to do activities such as a puzzle. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
Seniors living at Milner Commons have a worship service in the building’s “reflection room.” The room holds the former church’s stained glass window’s and pews. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
Milner Commons, affordable housing for senior living, parking lot. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
A tour of Milner Commons dining space is given. The high ceilings are similar to those of the church the building was remodeled from. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
Guests tour the library in one of Milner Commons buildings, an affordable housing project dedicated to senior living. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
Guests tour the outdoor porch of Milner Commons, affordable housing project for seniors. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
Milner Commons, an affordable housing project for seniors, food pantry. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
Photographs of the Methodist church before it’s remodeling are displayed in the Milner Commons hallway. Credit: Ashley Fredde 
A tour is given at one of Milner Commons’s buildings. The building is one of several on the property dedicated to affordable housing for seniors. Credit: Ashley Fredde
In some cases, that can be difficult, especially when it comes to affordable housing.
“Not every building or every land works out for affordable housing. There are natural and man made aspects to church land that can be really problematic — like a graveyard,” Strampe said. For instance, the church and property’s namesake, Henry Herman Milner, who endowed the building of the 1955 structure, is buried in the cemetery that’s on one corner of the property.
The former church couldn’t be converted and required demolition. As a compromise, the stained glass windows and pews were preserved, and the design featured high, vaulted ceilings reminiscent of the church.
“(Churches) are recognizing that the model is changing and that having these underutilized buildings and parcels of land are really problematic for them from a financial perspective. But often they want to engage in sort of an extension of their own mission in the community,” Strampe said. “I think the idea of affordable housing, particularly these days for seniors, which may be because a lot of the congregations are becoming older, I think that’s something that resonates with them.”
Affordable housing might not be enough
The property features 10 studio units, 122 one-bedroom and one-bath units and 24 two-bedroom and one-bath units. Amenities include common laundry facilities along with laundry hook-ups in each unit, a community lounge, library and game room, a reflection room, tenant storage areas, fitness rooms and a food pantry. Milner Commons rents are priced for individuals with incomes at or below 60 percent of area median income for Wake County.
Part of the nonprofit’s mission is to provide infrastructure for health and stability, not simply a roof overhead.
“(We) found it necessary to fully serve the folks that we’re providing housing to by coordinating resident services or programming into the communities,” Winstead said.
Some of that programming includes participating in National Night Out, an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood closeness; a tutoring program provided through partnership with students at N.C. State; and coordinating with Advanced Community Health to bring a mobile health clinic for primary health care visits.
For Milner Commons, that includes resident services through the nonprofit Resources for Seniors, which has staff on the property several times a week. The goal is to help provide services to residents so they can continue to live independently and age in place in a caring, supportive environment.
LaTonya Mckoy, director of resident services, works to provide that care to all Milner Commons residents. On a recent tour, she greeted every resident by name, exhorting one to “keep up the good work” as he made laps with his walker.
For two residents, Milner even served as the start of a new life together. The couple met at an event before both independently moving into the community. Once there, they began dating and eventually moved into a home they purchased together, Mckoy said.
But as residents continue to age beyond independent living and the affordability housing crisis continues, Winstead worries about how that gap will be bridged.
“We can’t afford those kinds of services in the communities that we’re developing, and we’re not equipped to provide those services,” Winstead said. “And frankly, our residents don’t have the financial wealth to be able to pay for those types of services.”
“Trying to build a bridge for low-income folks transitioning from being able to live independently to some place where you know their needs can be met — we don’t have any plan for how to bridge that,” she added. “We know it’s on the horizon. We recognize in our own portfolio that there’s a need here, that we’ve got to figure out how we can start to be helpful.”
KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
