Birmingham View News Portal

Fountain Heights is the first neighborhood to get the new, affordable single-family homes offered to lower-income households under this $3.75 million project. Eaton and 24 others families worked with housing counselors and several lending institutions to qualify for mortgages for their 1,350-square-foot houses with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Eaton, 32, said she started her preparation last year in order to purchase her home on 15^th Ave. North. She will be moving in soon with her 11-year-old daughter, who'll attend the local school.

The new houses are mixed in throughout the neighborhood along 15th Avenue North, 15th Court North, 12th and 17th Streets North. The 1, 1½ or 2-story structures were designed by Paul Roderick of Adams Design to match the neighborhood's existing bungalow- and craftsman-style homes.

The new homes cost between $93,000 to $100,000 to build. To make the houses affordable for lower income residents, the Housing Authority makes up the difference between the construction cost and residents' mortgage with a second mortgage. It is forgivable, provided the homeowner stays in the house for 15 years.

Neighborhood President Doris Powell could barely contain her excitement and basked in the glow of the residents' long-fought struggle to revitalize their community.

“I'm generally not an emotional person, but when I think back on how we got here, it's almost overwhelming. And I thank all of our partners. . . this was all part of participatory planning to get the job done,” she said.

During the ceremony, Housing Authority Deputy Director Naomi Truman thanked a long list of partners, including residents, banks, housing counselors, builder Kelly Higdon of KSH Construction, and the architect, and the Authority's staff, who worked under the leadership of Director Ralph Ruggs.

She said the Housing Authority plans to work with other builders of affordable homes to construct more of them in other neighborhoods across the City of Birmingham “to make sure that everyone has a safe, clean and decent home to live in.”

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