WALA Mobile: Congressman Figures touts federal boost for affordable housing in Africatown
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - U.S. Representative Shomari Figures (D-Mobile) came to the historic Africatown community to announce $2.5 million in federal funding to support affordable housing.
The money will go to the Africatown Redevelopment Corp., which has built eight new homes in a year and a half and plans groundbreakings on two more. It also has acquired and is rehabilitating eight historic houses, according to the nonprofit’s executive director, Karlos Finley.
Figures said he believes the $2.5 million he shepherded through Congress is the first direct federal appropriation to support redevelopment in Africatown.
The first-term congressman has secured funding for every county in his district, but he said this is the one that means the most to him. Africatown, on the northern edge of Mobile, traces its roots to the former slaves brought illegally to Alabama on the Clotilda just before the Civil War.
Figures recalled playing ball there as a child and attending his grandfather’s church.
“Hopefully this is just a drop in the bucket, just a first step, in making good on that promise, and showing people here – not just in Africatown, but across Mobile County and across this region – that this is something that matters to us,” he said.
Figures spoke in front of a newly built house on Edwards Street. It is modeled after the “wide house” design used by the Africans when they founded the community. He said the house is his organization’s interpretation of what the former slaves built.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house is just shy of 1,300 square feet and will have an asking price of $180,000. A house next door built in the “shotgun” style will be offered for $175,000.
Africatown Redevelopment Corp. Executive Director Karlos Finley notes that the wide house has 9-foot ceilings, stainless appliances and an energy-efficient design.
“We’ve not cut corners on this, guys,” he said. “These are forever homes. That’s why our program is called the Africatown Forever Home program.”
To qualify, applicants must have household incomes less than 125 percent of the local median, based on family size. For a family of four, the cutoff is $92,700. The house that Figures spoke in front of is move-in ready. In fact, there’s an open house Saturday.
For future houses, the nonprofit will be partnering with the Auburn University Rural Studio, which designs buildings. Rusty Smith, the associate director, said smart design can help new homeowners keep their homes – for instance, by reducing electricity costs.
“Our work here is not just about building houses that cost less,” he said. “It’s about asking these homes to do more and to afford more.”