Project Information

Bid Title

City of Durham Affordable Housing Plan & Investment Strategy

Issuing Agency

City of Durham

Location

North Carolina

Published Date

Mar 13, 2026

Closing Date

Apr 13, 2026

Government Level

State & Local

Status

Closed

Ref. #

26-1046

Original Source

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Project Description

Bid Number:	26-1046
Bid Title:	City of Durham Affordable Housing Plan & Investment Strategy
Category:	Requests for Proposals/Qualifications and Services
Status:	Open

Description: **** Pre-Bid meeting date, time IN-PERSON or HYBRID:  Tuesday March 24, 2026, at 1:00PM: IN-PERSON - 101 City Hall Plaza- Conference Room 4B Durham, NC 27701 HYBRID - Register by clicking this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/f6UGEEOuTN6POJDwjlnpQ **** **** RFP date, time, via EMAIL:  Monday April 13, 2026, by 12:00PM - send to: For security reasons, you must enable JavaScript to view this E-mail address. **** Publication Date/Time: 3/13/2026 8:00 AM Closing Date/Time: 4/13/2026 12:00 PM Contact Person: Alexis John [email protected] Related Documents: Affordable Housing Investment Plan RFP Final

Attachment Preview

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)

City of Durham Affordable Housing Plan & Investment Strategy

Issue Date: March 13, 2026

Submission Deadline: April 13, 2026 12:00PM ET

Complete applications should be emailed in PDF form to:

HousingandNeighborhoodServices@DurhamNC.Gov by April 13, 2026 at 12:00 PM ET.

Please direct all questions regarding this RFP to:

Alexis John, Assistant Director

Housing & Neighborhood Services Department

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701-3329

Alexis.John@DurhamNC.Gov

Ph. (919)560-4570

page 1

Affordable Housing Plan RFP Issued March 2026

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL INFORMATION - Page 3

A. Background

3

B. About the City of Durham

3

C. Contact Information

3

II. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT - Page 4

A. Scope of Services

1. Meetings

2. Analysis

3. Deliverables

4. Compensation Amount

B. Project Implementation Schedule

4

4

5

5

5

6

III. PROPOSAL SUBMISSION - Page 7

A. RFP Response Schedule & Instructions

7

B. Updates and RFP Revisions

7

C. Proposal Content

7

1. Cover letter

7

2. Contact Information

8

3. Project Understanding & Plans for Implementation

8

4. Experience and Qualifications

9

5. References

9

6. Project Budget

9

7. Assumptions regarding City of Durham Actions and Participation

10

8. Conflict of Interest

10

9. UBE Participation

10

IV. EVALUATION CRITERIA – Page 12

V. TERMS AND GENERAL CONDITIONS - Page 12

A. Definitions in this RFP

12

B. Contract

12

C. Trade Secrets and Confidentiality

13

D. Bonds

15

E. Insurance

15

F. Discretion of the City

15

G. Candidate to Bear Expense; No Claims against City

15

H. State Treasurer’s Lists

15

I. Notice Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

16

J. Values of City of Durham

16

page 2

Affordable Housing Plan RFP Issued March 2026

I. INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

A. Background

The City of Durham is at a pivotal time in our affordable housing work. A majority of the

goals outlined in the 2019 Forever Home plan have been accomplished and resources

allocated. A 2025 County-Wide Task Force outlined broad recommendations for how to

address Durham County’s affordable housing needs in a recent report. The housing market

has changed dramatically over the last several years and the scope of the need continues to

grow. What’s needed at this time is a detailed Affordable Housing Plan & Investment

Strategy that prioritizes the most impactful strategies for the City to pursue and outlines the

resources needed for implementation over the next 5 years. This Plan would operationalize

the key areas of focus to guide the City of Durham’s affordable housing efforts over the next

several years.

B. About the City of Durham

The City of Durham was incorporated in 1869 and is located in central North Carolina. The

City currently occupies a land area of approximately 112 square miles, with a population of

283,000 within the city and a population of 644,367 in the four-county Durham-Chapel Hill

Metropolitan Statistical Area, according to the United States Census Bureau. The City is

home to Duke University, a private research university with approximately 15,000 students,

and North Carolina Central University, a public historically Black university with

approximately 8,000 students. Durham is also the primary location of Research Triangle

Park, the largest research park in the United States. The City of Durham is a council -manager

form of government. Under the council-manager form of government, the city manager is

the chief administrative officer of the city. The manager is appointed by the City Council, as

are the City Attorney, the City Clerk, and the Collector of Revenue. The City Manager’s Office

is responsible for the management of all city activities and services, primarily day-to-day

functions and long-range planning for the organization. The City Attorney’s Office serves as

the legal representative and counsel for the Durham City Council and the City’s departments,

boards, offices, commissions, and its officers and employees. The City of Durham has

2,400+ employees. These employees provide varied services, including police, fire, and

emergency medical services; waste collection, street cleaning and snow removal; repair and

installation of water pipes, electric lines and cables; vehicle repair and maintenance; and a

range of administrative tasks. The city is organized into 26 departments.

C. Contact Information

1. Alexis John, Assistant Director

Alexis.John@DurhamNC.Gov

(919)560-4570 ext. 24235

2. Maggie Carnegie, Acting Assistant Director

Maggie.Carnegie@DurhamNC.Gov

(919) 560-4570 ext. 22228

page 3

Affordable Housing Plan RFP Issued March 2026

II. DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

A. Scope of Services

The City is soliciting a person or firm to contract for consulting services to guide the strategic

plan process for the City of Durham’s Affordable Housing Plan and Investment Strategy.

Consultants are invited to submit a proposal which includes an outline of their experience

and qualifications in performing work directly related to the services required.

The City envisions the following scope of work in the development of an Affordable Housing

Plan and Investment Strategy:

• Review existing affordable housing strategies and plans, including Forever Home,

Durham and the recent County-wide Affordable Housing Task Force Report.

• Review housing market data already gathered from existing work and provide any

additional data gathering and analysis needed.

• Review existing land use and zoning plans, including those under development.

• Review existing City capacity (staffing) and determine capacity needs within the City

and among our community partners.

• Connect existing strategies and plans with new recommendations to form the

Affordable Housing Plan and Investment Strategy.

• Conduct engagement with community and key stakeholders to get feedback on draft

plan, including individuals with lived experience of housing insecurity.

Because significant community engagement and data analysis has occurred in recent years,

including much content related to affordable housing need and preferences, the proposed

engagement should prioritize engaging community members with lived experience of

housing insecurity, as well as a broad range of developers, service providers, residents, and

other key stakeholders.

1. Meetings

The consultant will attend the following:

• Twice monthly meetings with the staff project team to discuss project

updates

• 4-6 engagement meetings during the process

• Two meetings to assist with presentation preparation

• 3 City Council Meetings during the adoption process

**All meetings will be held in person, with the exception of the twice-monthly

meetings with the staff project team, which may be held virtually

2. Analysis

The consultant should complete the following:

• Conduct an analysis of the existing inventory of publicly owned property in

the City of Durham to determine the usability for affordable housing.

page 4

Affordable Housing Plan RFP Issued March 2026

• Conduct an analysis of parcels in the City of Durham that could be acquired

for affordable housing, including feasibility of acquisition, pricing, and other

metrics reasonably requested by the City.

3. Deliverables

The Affordable Housing Plan and Investment Strategy (“The Plan”) should be concise

and graphical. The Plan should not exceed 25 pages and should be accompanied by

an Executive Summary or Brief that can serve as a communication tool to a wide

audience, including the City Council, affordable housing providers, residents, etc.

Overall, we seek deliverables that are:

• Simple – Easy to understand by the layperson and avoid jargon.

• Visual - Key concepts should be illustrated using visually interesting graphs,

charts, and infographics.

• Transferable – Easily downloaded and/or distributed and accessible across a

variety of media platforms.

• Specifically, we are looking for the Plan to include the following:

o Acknowledgement of the affordable housing work to date and progress

made.

o Summary of existing conditions related to housing needs in the City,

building off of existing data.

o Detailed implementation recommendations related to:

▪ Housing production and preservation strategies

▪ Policy and regulatory tools, including possible updates to the

Unified Development Ordinance

▪ Explicit acknowledgement of how housing strategies will achieve

equitable outcomes and opportunities for historically underserved

populations

▪ An investment plan that proposes and justifies the funding needed

for implementation of the Plan recommendations, identifies

options to maximize leverage, and improvements to the process

for evaluating and awarding City funds

▪ Increasing community partner and staff capacity to implement the

Plan

▪ Proposed performance measures to gauge progress, including

targets for affordable housing development and preservation

4. Compensation Amount

Compensation is subject to negotiation between City staff and consultant. Budget is

tentative based on the qualifications of the tentative consultant.

B. Project Implementation Schedule

Given that the City has a foundation on which this Plan can be created, the City proposes

an eight-month process to deliver the Affordable Housing Plan by the fall of 2026.

page 5

Affordable Housing Plan RFP Issued March 2026

Commodity Codes

• NAICS 541611Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services

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