About The Project

When Hurricane Florence tore through New Bern in 2018, it didn’t just damage buildings — it dismantled lives. More than 100 units at Trent Court, a local public housing development, were left uninhabitable, with residents literally rescued from their homes by boat.

Mosaic wasn’t going to let that be the end of the story.

Within four months of the storm, we broke ground on Carolina Avenue Apartments which included 84 new affordable family homes built to replace what Florence had taken. Funded through Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and State Disaster Recovery Funds, the project was already a complex undertaking. Then COVID-19 hit. Remote work, supply chain delays, contractor shortages, and workforce outbreaks all threatened to derail the timeline. We found a way forward anyway.

Carolina Avenue welcomed its first residents in November 2021 and hit 100% occupancy in just three months.

The community offers a mix of 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom homes across garden-style buildings, with rents accessible to families earning 60% or less and as low as 30% of the area median income. A priority placement preference was extended to former Trent Court residents, ensuring the people most impacted had the first shot at coming home.

And we built it to last. The site sits 2.5 miles further inland than the original Trent Court development, outside the 100-year flood plain, and elevated well above the area’s high-water mark. New Bern will face more storms. Carolina Avenue was designed to weather them.

For former Trent Court resident Kelvin M., it meant everything: “You can always go home and turn that key and go in your own house. And for me to get that apartment right there — I thank God for it.”