Current Projects and Grants

Avondale Gardens - Birmingham, AL

Avondale Gardens - Birmingham, AL

An Aletheia House Affordable Housing Development

Aletheia House is a non-profit agency that has been providing substance abuse treatment and prevention services for 30 years. It develops and manages housing for low-income people, including but not limited to, those who have completed its treatment program. Alethia House manages 138 housing units, 46 of which are permanent housing and 74 of which are transitional. In addition, the agency in 2004 finished development on 64 units of permanent housing known as Avondale Gardens.

Avondale Gardens is a $5.5 million investment designed to be architecturally consistent with the historic Avondale neighborhood in Birmingham. It contains 46 one-bedroom, six two-bedroom, and 12 three-bedroom apartments, and was financed with a variety of resources, including Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program funds, and City of Birmingham funds. Permanent financing was provided by the Housing Enterprise of Central Alabama; construction financing was provided by AmSouth Bank

Aletheia House and its Avondale Gardens project won a Fannie Mae Foundation Maxwell Award of Excellence in 2004.

Avondale Gardens
4200 - 4300 blocks of Second and Third Avenue South, Birmingham.

Project Description
Avondale Gardens provides 64 units of affordable housing in the historic Avondale neighborhood. The project's use of bold architecture, which is consistent with existing housing, is revitalizing a neighborhood where more than one-half of the existing property was abandoned housing and vacant lots.

Target Market
Low-income individuals and families; 15 percent of the units are reserved for individuals who are in recovery from mental illness and substance abuse.

Time Frame
The project applied for Low-Income Tax Credits in September 2001, was awarded credits in December 2001, completed Phase I in May 2003 and will be fully occupied by March 2004.

Financial Information
Sources of funds include:

Tax Credit Equity - Fannie Mae  
Enterprise Social Investment Corporation $3,988,600
Loan - Housing Enterprise of Central Alabama 1,171,208
Grant - Federal Home Loan Bank through AmSouth Bank 150,000
Deferred Developer Fee 134,605
Grant - City of Birmingham 68,000
Total $5,512,410

AmSouth Bank provided construction financing.

Partners and their roles:

  • Aletheia House and Charter Development Corporation: project developers.
  • Charter Construction: building contractor.
  • Jeremy Erdreich, Erdreich Architecture, project designer.
  • Rory McKean, McKean and Payne: managing architect.
  • Charter Property Management: property manager.
  • Cerita Tucker-Smith: Realtor who assisted in acquiring property.

View photos of a celebration HECA held in August 2004 to honor Aletheia House and its Avondale Gardens project, which won a Fannie Mae Foundation Maxwell Award of Excellence in 2004.

Read the press release on the event.