By Nancy Keates of the Wall Street Journal

It might be the most politically correct housing development on the planet.

In Raleigh, where hundreds of old houses have been torn down to make way for bigger, fancier new ones, one neighborhood stands out. Called Barrington Village, it comprises 24 homes that were saved from demolition by a nonprofit group and moved to the wooded, six-acre property. The houses, dating from the 1940s to 1960s, were placed on new foundations and fitted with identical front porches.
In Raleigh, N.C., a nonprofit organization recycles homes that are slated for destruction and sells them to low-income professionals. WSJ's Nancy Keates reports.

Reusing the houses kept construction debris out of dumps in a city where every new landfill is a battle. The houses, which go for $89,000 to $185,000, are sold to moderate-income people who have been priced out of the Raleigh market. And some of the workers come from a homeless mission, getting on-the-job training that results in letters of reference for future employment; other workers are "at risk" youth from a program that teaches construction skills.

Barrington Village is an extreme example of trying to save old houses rather than tear them down. For homeowners and developers the tactic can be a good move: They often receive a tax deduction, their lots are cleared free of charge and they may avoid criticism from neighbors and preservationists concerned about saving old structures. The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently identified over 500 communities in 40 states where homes in historic neighborhoods were being torn down, up from 100 communities in 20 states in 2002.

Services that buy house parts from people who are remodeling or razing have proliferated in recent years. These "rebuilding centers," typically nonprofits, resell the old windows, doors and cabinets to the public. But reusing an entire house is more unusual. In Martha's Vineyard, the Affordable Housing Fund has moved and renovated seven houses so far, though they weren't sited in one location. Habitat for Humanity, which builds houses from scratch for low-income people, has moved a few houses that were slated for teardown, including four relocated to one North Carolina development, says Susan Levy, executive director of the nonprofit's Orange County, N.C., affiliate.


The nonprofit in Raleigh, Builders of Hope, is one of the only groups moving and renovating houses on a large scale. And there's such a supply of teardowns in the city that Builders of Hope felt confident enough to break ground on a second development last month. Called Green Hope Village, it will have even more of a utopian twist: All the houses will be made super energy-efficient to meet the standards of a local green-building authority that guarantees monthly heating and cooling bills under $40.

Barrington Village, meantime, will soon have a playground donated by a developer who needed to get rid of it, and its traffic circle will be landscaped with a picnic table, apple trees and an herb garden designed free by a local landscaper. One Economy, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., put in a wireless Internet system and Builders of Hope is working to get residents recycled cars from individuals and dealerships.

There have been some hitches: Moving the houses doesn't solve the problem some neighborhoods have with out-of-scale McMansions going up. Federal tax deductions for people who can afford teardowns don't always sit well in Raleigh, where property taxes have risen 40% on average over the past two years. And the "village," like many new developments, is in an isolated pocket, unconnected to other neighborhoods and lacking stores.

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