DUHS employee Robin Gunn stands on the Durham lot where her first house is being built. Photo credit: Duke University Photography

Durham, N.C. - "I'm ready," a beaming Robin Gunn said as she surveyed the gravel lot in Durham. "I am so ready."

For the first time in her 41 years, and after several years of sharing an apartment bedroom with her young son, Gunn will own her piece of the American dream: a house.

"I've been searching for about two years, looking for a house in my price range," said Gunn, who works for Duke University Health System as a phlebotomist, drawing blood from patients who need liver or heart transplants.

Gunn's three-bedroom, two-bath house will be built in the coming months in the West End neighborhood near campus by Habitat for Humanity of Durham, one of several affordable homeownership organizations with which Duke partners. Her monthly mortgage payment with zero interest will be cheaper than her rent. And she'll build equity.

As prices for homes and apartment rents increase, Duke, the Self-Help Community Development Corporation, city of Durham, Habitat for Humanity, Durham Community Land Trustees and the Latino Community Credit Union are working together to provide more affordable homes and mortgage assistance for low-to-moderate income families.

In June, Duke committed to depositing up to $5 million in the Latino Community Credit Union over the next five years. The money will be dedicated for low-income consumer and mortgage lending in Durham County, which is home to slightly more than half of Duke's employees.

Increasing affordable housing opportunities near campus is one of the primary goals of the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership, which Duke launched in 1996 to work with residents to improve the quality of life in 12 neighborhoods near campus.

Duke employees who meet certain income guidelines may find homes they thought they could not afford through Self-Help, Habitat and the Durham Community Land Trustees. Homes built by these organizations typically range in price from $70,000 to $115,000.

In addition to collaborating with Habitat and the Land Trustees, Duke has invested $4 million with Self-Help, allowing the non-profit organization to continue its work to stabilize neighborhoods in the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership. That loan has assisted Self-Help in acquiring about 120 properties, 76 of which are in Walltown, a historic African-American neighborhood near East Campus. Thirty of the Walltown homes belong to Duke employees and graduate students.

Evan Covington Chavez, Self-Help's residential development director, said the Duke/Self-Help partnership is rare.

"It's just not every day that you're able to find the largest employer in town as your financial partner, your community partner, like you have with Duke," she said.

Homeownership opportunity is important in Durham, where 54 percent of residents own homes, lower than state and national homeownerships rates, according to the city of Durham.

In Walltown, where Duke employee Betty Foster resides, homeownership and property values are on the rise.

An information accounting specialist for vendor registration in Duke's Accounts Payable department, Foster was driving around Walltown last year when a Self-Help for-sale sign caught her attention. Foster, who has two adult twin sons, was living with a friend at the time and didn't think she could afford a new home on her own. But she inquired anyway.

She moved in last March.

"It was brand new, built from the ground up," said Foster, a 20-year Duke employee. "You've got to pay to stay somewhere, so you might as well pay into somewhere you'll get some equity."

Before she moved into her $109,000 house, she took a class through Self-Help on managing money. She learned about home maintenance and saving for emergencies. "The idea is to keep the house once you've got it," said Foster, who is 56.

Like Foster, Gunn, the Duke phlebotomist, did not think she could afford a new home. She lives in a two-bedroom apartment with her son and 62-year-old mother. As she hunted for a house, Gunn found old homes within her $104,000 budget, but they needed work.

A friend told her about Habitat for Humanity of Durham. Gunn filled out an application. The groundbreaking is this summer. She has put 45 hours of "sweat equity" toward her Carroll Street home, installing windows and doors on other Habitat houses on the street.

"I'll have my own," said Gunn, "finally."