‘A real shame’: Durham Habitat loses $20,000 amid uptick in tool thefts at construction sites

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — The banging and booming sounds of construction at job sites around Durham can't happen without the tools.

Adam Lund with Durham Habitat for Humanity is dealing with an uptick in thefts and said the trend feels targeted.

"It's a real shame when you show up during the day and you're like 'okay, I got 30 minutes before the volunteers get here, let me get the tools prepped and everything,' you show up and you have no tools," the Durham Habitat director of construction said.

In recent months, Durham Habitat has dealt with five different construction site theft incidents, totaling about $20,000 in losses. Thieves are stealing tools.

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"We're doing this with funds that have been donated from our community partners and it's very disappointing that we have to go and replace these tools that have been stolen," Durham Habitat CEO Tiana Joyner said.

They said thieves are breaking into containers, sometimes delaying projects by a month.

Durham police report an increase this year in thefts at construction sites. The latest numbers from DPD show 202 reported thefts this year, which is a 32 percent increase from last year.

"We're here to do good work and it's taking away from those funds that we could use to build more homes," Joyner said.

Habitat continues to look for ways to increase security with limited resources. They've tried methods like deadbolts and cameras.

"You have all these people coming to do some great work and you either have to cancel them or scramble and try to figure something out and it just really impacts us on a day-to-day basis when something like this happens," Lund said.

DPD reports no arrests have been made in these cases. Lund said there was one additional break-in incident without any items stolen.