Alabama State Field Office Director Offers Remarks at Ribbon Cutting for Affordable Housing Community

Alabama State Field Office Director, Kenneth E. Free offers remarks during Ribbon Cutting for Phase Two of the Villas at Titusville in Birmingham, Alabama on July 22, 2022

Kenneth E. Free, (right of center) joins a group that included HABD CEO, Dontrell Foster-Young, Alabama State Senator, Rodger Smitherman, David Young of Alabama Housing Finance Authority, Marcella Roberts of Hollyhand Development Company, Kelvin Datcher of Birmingham Mayor, Randall Woodfin's Office and others at the Ribbon Cutting for Phase Two of the Villas at Titusville, in Birmingham, Alabama.

On July 22, 2022, Alabama State Field Office Director Kenneth E. Free offered remarks at the Ribbon Cutting for Phase Two of the Villas at Titusville in Birmingham, AL. The Villas at Titusville is a projected three-phase development to replace the old Loveman Village community. Loveman Village was an aging public housing community of close to 600 affordable housing units that had fallen into disrepair and had become a magnet for crime in the community.

When officials with the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District (HABD) set out to replace the community, one of their commitments was to reduce the neighborhood's density. As a result, the plan for the new development projected less than half the total units in the old community to be located at the site where the old neighborhood was demolished. Units are also being built at two other locations in the City of Birmingham to replace the units destroyed in Loveman Village.

Participants in the Ribbon Cutting included: the Birmingham Mayor's Office, State Senator Rodger Smitherman, and representatives of the many organizations that partnered to make the new community possible.

Long-term residents of the community marveled at the changes represented by the new development. Whereas the old neighborhood was your typical public housing construction with as many units as possible stuffed onto the land, the latest development features townhouse-style construction and open spaces and amenities that were not a part of the previous community.

In his remarks, Free complimented HABD on its vision and willingness to work, identify and work with many partners to make the community possible. He also noted that the community met a standard that he felt all HUD-supported communities should meet, and that was that it was a place where he would be happy to see his mother living. In response to light laughter from attendees, he looked around the community again and noted that, in reality, he wouldn't mind living there himself. It was a great day that HUD was happy to be a part of.

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