WILMINGTON — After nearly four years since its idea of a supportive housing community was first presented to the city, Good Shepherd has opened the doors on a project that will address chronic homelessness and specifically help people with disabilities.
“We understand today that housing is very essential to our wellbeing,” Executive Director Katrina Knight told Port City Daily. “It’s physical health; it’s mental health. If we [all] were to commit to that fact, then every neighbor, family, veteran, senior or person with disabilities will get to have a roof over their head.”
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Dubbed The Sparrow, the three story apartment complex located on Carolina Beach Road, consists of 32 units and is already fully booked. The $7.7-million housing project was completed in partnership with the State Employees’ Credit Union, who also partnered with the nonprofit on Lakeside Reserve, Good Shepherd Center’s first supportive housing community.
“Sparrows represent home, and hope, and community, and resilience, and new beginnings,” Knight said to the crowd of supporters and donors at the opening on Friday, May 8. “All things that you make possible when you support housing for vulnerable neighbors.”
The apartment complex is permanent supportive housing, which gives unhoused individuals affordable and stable living quarters coupled with support services, such as transportation and job help.
The apartments are set aside for residents with disabilities making less than $40,000 a year and chronically unhoused individuals — though Knight said it was unlikely residents moving into The Sparrow would make that much. Residents will be asked to contribute 30% of their income — no matter how much they earn — to rent. Most planning to move in typically only receive disability checks, meaning the rent will likely only be about $250 to $300 a month.
Monthly rent also covers utilities and access to Good Shepherd Center case managers. As a part of the permanent supportive housing, staff will sit down to work one-on-one with residents to help them understand their financial situations and needs, such as if residents receive disability checks and need to figure out what 30% of those checks looks like, or are in need of career services.
Talks for The Sparrow began in 2022, after the City of Wilmington donated Wilmington Fire Station 6 and its roughly one-acre property to Good Shepherd in order to build the complex. The project took about four years to come to fruition, and it would have taken longer, Knight said, had all the community partners not stepped up to the plate.
Fundraising for the project took roughly two years, Knight explained, while construction took less than a year. The complex was constructed by the same company that did Lakeside Reserve, Harold K. Jordan & Co.
Good Shepherd’s CFO, Lauren Henderson, told Port City Daily the entire project cost roughly $7.7-million. The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency donated just over $2.9 million, while the City of Wilmington gave the nonprofit a little more than $2.1 million. SECU donated $2 million, with the remaining $700,000 gifted by individual donors and community members.
The need for supportive housing is dire in the region. According to the Cape Fear Council of Governments’ Point-in-Time survey results from 2025, most of the shelters in the Cape Fear were either at capacity or over capacity. More than 500 people, at least, are considered homeless in the region. Permanent supportive housing specifically has also been at a deficit. In Wilmington, as of August 2025 and previous Port City Daily reporting, there were 109 housing units available and 123 people enrolled to receive the housing.
“This is a proud day for the City of Wilmington, North Carolina,” Council member David Joyner said to the crowd. “There’s something particularly meaningful about standing at a site that used to be a fire station, because this is a site that is still about protection. It is still a site about resilience and service, just in a new way.”
Donors, council members, board members and partners were all at the ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, even some county commissioners, such as Rob Zapple and Stephanie Walker. Alongside Joyner, who spoke on behalf of the Wilmington City Council, were his colleagues, JC Lyle, Chakema Clinton-Quintana and Cassidy Santaguida.
Another community partner — while not necessarily financial — is the Cape Fear Clinic, who will operate as needed and able out of the complex, with a designated room on the first floor. Providers can also visit residents in their homes, or connect them to specialists and outside care.
Residents of The Sparrow will be assigned one of two case managers designated for the building, according to director of homeless services Katelyn Mattox. Case managers will have several roles, from working individually with residents to help them get settled in and connected to the resources, to physically providing transportation to places like the doctor’s office and grocery store. The complex is also within walking distance of a Food Lion and Walmart and located on a bus route.
The goal, both Mattox and Knight told Port City Daily, is to get residents self-sufficient again. While the case manager will provide rides as needed — which Mattox noted was often a good time to talk about the resident’s needs or desires for the future — Good Shepherd said there is no limit on residents’ stay. The nonprofit wants them to be able to navigate Wave Transit and find a source of income to support and sustain themselves.
Amenities in the building include community rooms — like a kitchen, dining area, and computer room. There is also a back courtyard and the complex has an elevator to accommodate disabled residents.
“We like to bring in a variety of community partners to come talk to our residents about different things,” Mattox said. “So that could be anything from financial counseling to the Senior Resource Center.”
She and Knight both want to bring together community members via game nights or group dinners and so they can learn “how to be a neighbor again.”
So far, the nonprofit plans to phase in residents seven at a time, as to not overwhelm. Overall, Mattox explained, the move-in process for the 32 residents will take somewhere between four to six weeks when considering individual living arrangements and situations.
Also part of the reason for the phase-in is to allow for personalized assistance by case managers.
“We want each resident to know that they have their case manager’s time and attention,” Mattox said.
According to Knight, though, The Sparrow is just the start of new developments tackling homelessness in Wilmington. The organization plans to expand its current shelter into a larger family shelter across the street from its main campus on 811 Martin Street. It currently houses four families, but Knight hopes to expand to hold eight.
Good Shepherd is looking to create a combined 75 apartments for chronically homeless individuals, including disabled people and veterans, as a part of its “Home for Good” campaign; so far, the nonprofit has raised $12.5 million and is $9 million away from its goal. Aside from The Sparrow and the new family shelter, the organization hopes to open a 24-unit complex at the same location at 812 Martin Street.
While projects like The Sparrow take a long time — even with the land donation — council members Lyle and Santaguida want to ensure the work continues.
“We don’t want to extend these projects in perpetuity because the longer we wait to make progress, the more expensive it’s gonna be,” Santaguida said.
Overall, the message from organizers and partners was “keep the ball rolling,” while celebrating Friday’s win.
“To the future residents of The Sparrow: We are glad you are here and we are glad you are home,” Joyner said.
[Ed. note: The piece was updated to correct the headline from “homelessness” to “homeless.”]
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