HECA

• Who We Are
  • Partners
  • Board
  • Executive Committee
  • Loan and Investment Committee
  • Leadership and Staffing
  • HECA Fact Sheet (pdf)
  • Fund Fact Sheet (pdf)
  • Benefits of Participation in HECA and the Fund
  • History
• What We Do
• Purpose
• Current Projects and Grants
• What's New
• Housing and Community Development Resources

History

The Housing Enterprise of Central Alabama has deep roots in the community it serves.

The organization got its start as a result of two events: The creation by Region 2020 of a regional vision for improving neighborhoods and making more safe, decent, and affordable housing available; and the F5 tornado that struck Jefferson County in 1998.

The Region 2020 visioning process

Organizers established Region 2020 in 1997 as a non-profit that advocates regional cooperation and citizen involvement to improve quality of life in 12 counties in Central Alabama. Region 2020's early mission was to develop a shared vision for the region. To that end, Region 2020 held "vision fairs" in several cities, and more than 5,000 people shared their hopes and dreams for what the region could become. Region 2020 staff and hundreds of volunteers then spent months organizing the ideas into 34 goals and 217 strategies and action steps. Among the goals was one that concerned neighborhood revitalization and affordable housing.

The April 8 1998 F5 tornado (and its positive consequences)

On April 8, 1998, one of the worst tornadoes in the history of Alabama - an F5 - struck the Oak Grove and Edgewater area of Jefferson County: 32 people died, 259 others were injured, and more than 1,000 homes were badly damaged or destroyed.

Numerous community groups came together to deal with the many human needs that resulted from the tragedy, and found creative ways to partner to rebuild housing and communities.

Because of this year-long effort, local community groups and individuals had a new knowledge and trust of each other. They also developed a strong interest in capitalizing on this cooperative spirit by continuing to work together to find a way for the Greater Birmingham area to address its critical long-term housing and neighborhood revitalization needs.

Initial stages of a new initiative

After several months of inaction following the tornado recovery effort, and being aware that Region 2020 had identified the same housing and neighborhood needs, Habitat for Humanity and The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham asked Region 2020 to join an effort to seriously address housing issues.

In October 1999, the three organizations convened more than 50 organizations and 200 housing and community activists. These volunteers embarked on a year-long series of meetings and work projects to identify and develop more effective means of addressing housing needs. All were in agreement with the collective citizens' vision stated in "The Book on Region 2020:"

WHAT

• Develop a region where plentiful, safe, affordable, accessible, attractive, and quality (new and existing) public and private housing enhances existing neighborhoods and creates new ones; encourages diversity, ownership opportunities, and community pride; and addresses the needs of all ages, races, and income levels.

WHY

• To increase the supply of affordable housing.
• To coordinate housing initiatives in the region.
• To develop new programs and funding opportunities.
• To establish more stable neighborhoods.

HOW

• Strategy: Develop a regional center for affordable housing to facilitate local partnerships of governments, financial institutions, charitable organizations and developers.

Region 2020 Affordable Housing Initiative

In 2000, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the Robert Meyer Foundation and the Hugh Kaul Foundation gave $250,000 to Region 2020 to fund efforts to create new capacity to address Jefferson County's housing crisis, and to build more safe, decent, affordable housing in the region.

After starting with seven subcommittees, the focus was narrowed to two efforts. One was a pilot community renovation project in Woodlawn; the other was a committee established to undertake the long-term challenge of eliminating substandard housing, and significantly increasing the supply of safe, decent housing in the region.

Woodlawn Housing Initiative

Non-profit and faith-based organizations and non-profit and private developers came together in Woodlawn, an underserved, working class neighborhood in the City of Birmingham. The project, called the Woodlawn Housing Initiative, involved a nine-block area that was targeted for in-fill, new construction, and rehabilitation by private and non-profit developers.

This case study allowed volunteers to gain practical experience on the barriers to affordable housing, and concentrate resources in one place. Private and non-profit developers, support service agencies, volunteers and the faith community worked in the neighborhood to renovate houses for sale and rental; build new houses; provide credit and loan counseling to residents and potential buyers; and revitalize the neighborhood through planning and infrastructure improvements.

From June 2000 to December 2001, 12 houses owned by absentee landlords were purchased as part of the project. Results included:

• Nine units were rehabbed and sold to new homeowners.
• Three new units of rental housing were developed.
• Six homes owned by seniors were repaired.
• Back taxes were paid on five or six lots, with an objective of having the lots available for future use.

Other tangible accomplishments of the Woodlawn Initiative included:

• About 200 people requested information on the initiative;
• More than 30 applications to purchase homes were received;
• The critical need for more comprehensive homebuyer training was identified;
• Neighborhood residents were counseled about home ownership issues.
• The neighborhood established a homeowners association;
• The Birmingham Southern Environmental Center eventually established a community garden on a vacant lot in the area;
• Several groups, including the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, the Auburn Center for Architecture and Urban Studies, and Jefferson County Information Services, collaborated on developing an inventory of housing, gathering social capital and other data about the community and putting it on a website.

The Region 2020 Housing Initiative won a Best Practices Award from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development in 2000. The award celebrated the initiative as "an efficient and progressive way to address affordable housing," according to the August 2000 Region 2020 newsletter.

Legacy Study Committee hearings

The Legacy Study Committee was led by Maria Campbell, former General Counsel, AmSouth Bank. Committee members included local experts, long-time advocates and service providers, with major support provided by The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham.

Members researched affordable housing prototype structures across the United States such as Land Banks, Community Development Corporations, Housing Trust Funds and Community Development Financial Institutions. They visited several successful models in other states.

The Legacy committee also held more than 10 half-day meetings to hear from experienced private developers, non-profits, banks, governments, and other industry stakeholders to gain insight into the state of affordable housing in Central Alabama.

Lessons learned and conclusions

Experience from the volunteer study groups, lessons learned from the pilot project, and its own research lead the Legacy Study Committee to conclude that barriers to the development of an affordable housing industry included:

• A lack of consistent, long-term funding sources.
• An absence of flexible, gap financing.
• Few incentives for private-sector involvement.
• A lack of capacity among most of the non-profits involved in affordable housing.

In terms of homebuyer preparation, the Committee also found:

• A need to increase capacity among regional non-profits and community development corporations whose mission was to locate, educate and prepare citizens to be first-time homebuyers. These organizations were spending as much as 85 percent of their time raising operating funds for the next year, leaving little opportunity to do the work they were created to do.

Thus, the Committee recommended the creation of a for-profit lender and an affiliated non-profit as a method to address these issues.

HECA opens its doors

HECA and its non-profit partner, the Housing Fund of Central Alabama, opened in April 2003 in the offices of Region 2020 in downtown Birmingham to stimulate affordable housing production in the 12-county Region 2020 footprint. HECA moved into its own offices about six months later.

Read about HECA's progress in the timeline of accomplishments.