Joseph Holt is running for the District 4 seat on the Birmingham City Council, seeking positive change in neighborhoods of the district.

“When you grew up and you see poverty, you say that’s probably going to change eventually,” the 49-year-old said. “But if you see it growing up and you still see it when you’re grown, I can’t understand it.”

Holt, a licensed home builder, counts himself as one of the change agents who ushered in a resurgence in Woodlawn.

“I was the start of it,” he said, citing the H Plus H Contracting company that he’s been operating the past 10 years. “Before me, the houses were selling for like $70,000. I fixed up the first house that sold for $160,000, which gave a comp for the area to go and build and sell houses for $200,000.

“A lot of that stuff started because of me,” Holt continued. “i3 Academy, Woodlawn Foundation, they started building houses because of my comp. i3 Academy built a school in the area and Woodlawn Foundation started building houses in the area because of the house that I renovated.”

Holt grew up in Kingston, attending Kingston Elementary before one year at Hayes High and then completing high school at Woodlawn High. He earned his certification in heating, ventilation and air conditioning at Lawson State Community College before becoming a licensed home builder.

Much of his work has been in renovation.

“I’ve lived in Woodlawn, I want to say, five years, but I’ve been renovating Woodlawn since 2008,” he said. “I’ve got 25 properties in Woodlawn.”

The first-time candidate said he wants to make the area grow, bringing families back.

“I bought a lot of abandoned houses to get rid of the drug dealers and to help bring families back,” he said. “At that time, in ’08, it was a lot of drug houses, a lot of abandoned houses. I bought them for cheap to give a resurgence of bringing rentals back.

“I had to flip one to show people that the area was decent enough to rent in because they were scared at the time,” the developer said. “That comp helped me not only set a tone for selling houses but also set a tone for renting houses. It showed it was safe because somebody actually bought a house in that area.”

Holt said he’s running on a platform of economic development but not development that’s built solely on demolitions.

“I want to disband the notion that as a councilman, we’re going to tear down every house,” he said. “No, that’s not the way to economic development. When you tear down a home, who wants to build in the ‘hood? Nobody, because it’s not yet prominent.”

Holt talked about having creative agreements in which property owners commit to improving their property.

“It’s economic development change by renovating homes in the community,” he said. “I want to show citizens that tearing down is not the answer.”

Holt also talked about creating a landbank layaway program to further spur positive change.

The candidate is unmarried and the father of one son, Joseph Holt III, who graduated from A.H. Parker High School early and is now enrolled at Georgia State University.

More information about Holt can be found on his campaign website and his Facebook page. He can be reached at joseph@joeknowsdistrict4.org.