On a quiet street in Old West Durham, three newly built houses with wide front porches look out over the street, near a “Coming Soon” sign. The sign describes what the houses, called Houses of Hope, will be: free temporary housing for financially struggling transplant patients at Duke University Hospital and their families.
The houses were built by members of Grey Stone Church to provide a refuge for patients and their caregivers who need months of shelter near the hospital. For Pastor Clay Waters, 53, the idea originated nearly two decades ago with a little girl named Jordan Williams, a church member battling leukemia. Williams spent months in the hospital before she passed away. During his visits, Waters met other families who had traveled from across the country for care, only to face crushing expenses for nearby housing. “I found out how many families were having to pick up their own costs for housing,” Waters said. “The Ronald McDonald House helped some, but often it was full. Adults had even fewer options.”
Waters began asking what his church could do. The answer, he realized, was linked to Grey Stone’s location just blocks from the hospital.
Cindy Lawrence, 67, a retired Duke lung transplant coordinator and Grey Stone member, helped connect the church with the transplant team. The need is undeniable, she said. “At one point, Duke had the largest lung transplant program in the country,” she said. “Patients would relocate here, but many couldn’t afford housing.”
Turning the vision into a tangible project took persistence. Donald Yarboro, 74, who chairs the church’s Houses of Hope committee, said nurses in the congregation who worked with Duke’s transplant program urged the church to act, bringing stories of patients stuck searching for shelter.
After some early false starts, the church committed $600,000 from its own funds in 2022. It then raised another $400,000 from members and supporters. A change in Durham’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) then forced the committee back to the drawing board, delaying the project nearly a year. “The most difficult part was figuring out exactly what would be permitted on the lot,” Yarboro said.
Finally, construction began early this year on the plot across from Grey Stone’s Family Life Center. The goal was to build homes that would both serve families in crisis and blend into the historic neighborhood. “We wanted big front porches, rocking chairs — something that when you looked at them, you’d think, ‘This feels inviting,’” Yarboro said.
Each house is designed for patients and their caregivers to stay for three months or longer, depending on need. The houses are fully furnished and stocked with cleaning supplies, so that families can focus on recovery. The bathrooms are outfitted with gray-tiled showers, and open shelving in the bedrooms and closets leaves space for families to settle in. Utilities are covered by the church. “We want them to bring a suitcase, that’s it,” Yarboro said.
Duke’s transplant team will determine who lives in the homes, prioritizing those with the greatest financial need, said Dr. Stuart Knechtle, executive director of Duke Transplant Center, who praised the project as a “generous and thoughtful contribution” to patient care. That arrangement spares church members from choosing and ensures the homes reach the families that social workers identify as most vulnerable. The Houses of Hope are expected to serve primarily lung transplant patients, who often must relocate for months of pre- and post-operative rehabilitation.
For Waters, who has led Grey Stone for 18 years, the project is not just about housing but about putting faith into action. “For me, it’s been about eight years from the initial dream to seeing the houses come out of the ground,” Waters said. “Faith without works is dead,” he added, quoting the New Testament.
The houses are nearly ready, awaiting only furniture before the first families arrive. A dedication ceremony and open house are expected this fall. Waters hopes the houses will serve families for decades.
“This project has allowed our church to do something that will last long after Cindy and I are gone,” Waters said. “It’s a tangible way of loving people in need.”
At top: Three new houses will open this fall near Grey Stone Church, offering free lodging for transplant recipients and their families. Photo by Valentina Garbelotto — The 9th Street Journal
