Rising tall over the old, red brick Southtown stands the new and improved Southtown Family at Edgehill. City officials say the redevelopment project represents the future of affordable housing.
The Housing Authority of the Birmingham District (HABD), the City of Birmingham and other contractors began construction of the $17 million facility in April 2023. The new Southtown is equipped with business centers with computers and flat screen TVs, a fitness center, community rooms, a game room with a Pac-Man video arcade machine and pool table. It also includes charging stations for electric vehicles, new appliances, in-unit washer and dryers and balconies. There are 60 units, and it will be full on the first day.
“We had one top priority, and that was neighborhood revitalization, especially around providing new development for our community that deserves so much more,” City of Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the project on Friday.
“Southtown represents hope…this is what putting people first looks like. This is what putting people first feels like. We build new homes, we build new opportunities, and most importantly, we build hope.”
Future residents toured the building, excited for their move-in day on Oct. 1. Next door, Sounds of construction fills the air as Southtown Senior anticipates its opening in March 2025.
Thomas Clark, a future Southtown resident, was relocated to the Kingston Housing Authority property when renovations for the new Southtown began. Clark was born and raised in Birmingham, and he said he is excited to “see positivity for a change.”
“I’m very excited. It’s an honor and a blessing to be a part of history…I think this is a good change for the community,” Clark said. “It’s very relaxing already. Gives me peace of mind. I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Jaquice Reynolds, president of the Southtown resident council, said she and other future residents are excited to move in and are appreciative of the work the city has done on the redevelopment.
“This means a lot to us,” Reynolds said. “We are very thankful and we’re very grateful that HABD chose us to go along this journey.”
For some former Southtown residents, the redevelopment project has been a long fraught journey. When the renovations began, many former Southtown residents were forced to move.
For some, the road to a new Southtown was paved with stress and unanswered calls from the Housing Authority, according to AL.com reports.
Some residents relocated to other Housing Authority properties. Others joined a home buyers program and others like JaSheena Pearson, 39, who elected to leave Southtown, were displaced and forced to move in with family members.
Out of the 455 units, more than 300 people selected options that removed them from the list of residents who might return to the redeveloped Southtown, while 100 residents planned to stay. Of those, about 82 are still living on site through the demolition process.
A sizable number, 220 residents, opted for Section 8 housing vouchers and 64 chose public housing or other affordable housing through the Housing Authority, and 38 opted for some other private market option, according to reports.
Old systems of affordable housing are dismantled as cities become more gentrified and former public housing is turned into mixed-use developments, often with only a fraction of apartments set aside for lower-income families.
James Hawkins, the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District project manager, said the new Southtown is not gentrification because all of the former residents who are still living at the old red brick property next door, will be moving in.
“This project is the beginning of the new phases coming in Birmingham. Affordable living does not have to look like something that’s [undesirable],” Hawkins said. “Everybody that’s living on that side is moving into this building. Everyone. So there’s no gentrification. It’s not displacement. We’re just giving them a better quality of life.”
While redevelopments are shiny and new and give opportunities to some, others are still left behind, or do not immediately reap the benefits of change.
When renovations began, former Southtown resident Andrew Thompson moved to Elyton – another Housing Authority property. Thompson said that though he is excited about the prospect of eventually moving into the new Southtown, he was not aware that the Southtown redevelopment project had been completed and is ready for occupancy.
“Monday morning I’ll have to contact HABD to find out if they have any information about transferring me to the new area…One of the problems I’m having now is trying to find out where I’m going,” Thompson said.
Dontrelle Young Foster, president and CEO of the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District, said the new Southtown is the model for the future of Birmingham’s affordable housing and that the former Southtown residents are their priority.
“It’s time for change,” Foster said.
