DURHAM, N.C. — The city is floating the idea of shutting down its largest and oldest public housing complex, McDougald Terrace, where more than 800 people live.

What You Need To Know

Local officials in Durham may shut down the city’s largest and oldest public housing complex, where more than 800 people live

Lasonya Brown and her children have been living at McDougald Terrance since 2019

Brown believes the government will help to relocate residents to alternative public housing options

Lasonya Brown, who has been living at McDougald Terrace since 2019, says she first learned about McDougald Terrace possibly being torn down during a recent visit by the city inspector.

“When I seen him, I’m like, what is the city inspector doing? And the maintenance man was telling me that they was checking for foundational errors and stuff like that to possibly shut the neighborhood down,” she said.

Local officials forced residents, including Brown, to evacuate when carbon monoxide was detected in dozens of apartments in 2019. Brown and her children lived out of a hotel for four months.

“It’s so many problems with this old complex,” Brown said. “I think some people deserve another start somewhere else. Everybody is not so sad about it. You know some people probably don’t want to go.”

Brown says she’s not scared about being left homeless. She believes the government will provide residents with alternative government housing if they decide to shut the complex down.

“It’s time. The neighborhood need to do something,” Brown said. “If it’s going to take shutting it down and replacing everybody in somewhere better, I’m all for it.”

However, she wants the Durham Housing Authority to be more transparent about the process so that residents are not caught off guard.

“Some people that been here for 10, 12 years, you should let them know in advance so they can prep and get to servicing themselves with the Durham Housing Authority or whatever, you know what I’m saying, get replaced,” Brown said. “If they just gonna knock this one down, there’s other ones people won’t mind moving to.”

Brown says she’s excited about the possibility of living in a better area. She says right now her biggest concern is about the safety of her children because of gun violence in the area.