History of Public Housing in Goldsboro

The predecessor of the Housing Authority of the City of Goldsboro was the Eastern Carolina Regional Housing Authority. In 1949, the Goldsboro Board of Aldermen determined that Goldsboro needed its own housing authority. Established in 1950, the first act of the Goldsboro Housing Authority (Authority) was looking at several sites with plans to construct 400 units of low-rent housing (The News and Observer, 20 July 1950). In November 1950, under the leadership of Wiley Smith, the Authority advertised for bids to construct new low-rent housing in Goldsboro; 138 low-rent housing units for whites at Fairview Homes and 137 units for blacks at Lincoln Homes for a total cost of $3,009,000 (The News and Observer, 26 Nov. 1950). The demand for low-rent housing continued to increase in Goldsboro. By 1953, the Authority advertised for bids to construct 115 additional units at Fairview Homes (The News and Observer, 1 Oct. 1953). Demand continued to outpace supply, in 1958 the Authority acknowledged that all units at Fairview Homes and Lincoln Homes were full, and there were 350 applications on file for low-rent housing (The News and Observer, 18 July 1958).

The lack of low-rent housing continued to be an issue in Goldsboro. In 1959, the State Utilities Commission (Commission) approved the construction of 225 new low-rent housing units. The 225 new units were divided between the white and black population of Goldsboro, with 75 units for whites in Edmundson Hill and 150 unites for blacks in Hell's Bottom (The News and Observer, 6 Dec. 1959). By 1966, Urban Renewal resulted in the displacement of 590 families in Goldsboro. The City realized that it needed to find adequate housing for these families; therefore, the Authority proposed the construction of 800 additional federal housing units, in addition to the already existing 825 units (The News and Observer, 19 May 1966).

In 1969 Goldsboro experienced protests due to the firing of two employees of the Authority. The employees presented the director of the Authority with a list of grievances concerning the condition of the some of the properties operated by the Authority. Approximately 150 people marched on the Goldsboro City Hall and 200 tenants at the Lincoln Homes and Elmwood Terrace participated in a rent strike. At this time, 500 tenants resided in the two housing developments with a majority of those being black (The News and Observer, 31 May 1969).

As of 2018, the need for HUD-assisted units exceeded the supply in the City of Goldsboro, a continuation of trends that started in the 1950s (Nichol and Hunt 2018).

HACG currently is governed by a seven member Board of Commissioners who are appointed by the Mayor for five-year terms. 

HACG serves  a diverse population  that includes elderly, children, and disabled residents. Nearly 8% of residents are over the age of 62,  and approximately 47% are children under the age of 17.  Almost half of the residents are female head of households with dependents. The  average family income for  a family of four is $11,213, and 70% of are considered extremely low income based on state poverty guidelines.

Visit our Historic Properties page to learn more about Goldsboro public housing complexes that are eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and to access their historic evaluation reports.

References Cited

Nichol, Gene and Heather Hunt

2018 Goldsboro: Isolation and Marginalization in Eastern, North Carolina. North Carolina Research Fund, Winter 2018.

The Durham Sun

Durham, North Carolina. Available at Newspapers.com.

The News and Observer

Raleigh, North Carolina. Available at Newspapers.com.