The Birmingham Land Bank Authority on Friday held a ceremonial groundbreaking on what will be the newest home built in the Fountain Heights Neighborhood, marking the official launch of the Land Bank’s Accelerated Home Ownership Program.

AHOP launched last year with a goal to help 25 individuals become owners of newly built homes in the historic community. It is a collaborative effort among the Birmingham Land Bank Authority, a local lender and home builders to create a pathway to homeownership.

“Everybody deserves a home,” said Caroline W. Douglas, executive director for the authority. “From the student who’s here temporarily and needs to rent an apartment or to a young family who needs a home and decides to buy one and even to the unsheltered. Even the unsheltered need transitional housing. Everyone deserves that.”

Mayor Randall Woodfin said the city, with help from state legislators, has torn down dilapidated houses, which left untended yards in their wake.

“I’m gonna tell y’all straight up, we definitely didn’t get into this business to cut grass,” the mayor said. “It’s just not sustainable for cities to be in the grass-cutting business. We want to go vertical on these empty lots with more single-family homes, affordable, market rate, insert whatever term you want. The residents who live here deserve better and for a community, we want it to be better. The best thing we can do is build more housing.”

The Land Bank is partnering with SouthPoint Bank and minority-owned construction companies QS Construction?LLC and PCA Group LLC for the financing and building of the homes.

The Land Bank selected the?Fountain Heights neighborhood for this pilot program because of its proximity to jobs, educational opportunities, health care and government services. Community leaders also expressed a desire to increase the number of homeowners in their community.

Family Home

Michael Reed, a 45-year-old civil engineer, is embarking on his homeownership journey. His new house, which will be a 1,500-square-foot structure that should be completed before the holidays, will be the family home for him, his 14-year-old daughter and his 65-year-old mother.

“This is wonderful,” the Roebuck resident said. “The ideal was to be a part of revitalization. That is the reason why I attempted to join the program. I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

Dr. Lonnie Hannon III, chairman of the board of the Birmingham Land Bank, is a policy analyst, a researcher and an associate professor of health behavior at the UAB School of Public Health who has long wanted to “move the needle” in the lives of people.

“We do a lot of research, a lot of papers, a lot of poster presentations, but rarely do we actually move the needle,” he said. “One of the things that I’ve always wanted to do was move away from just the research space, move away from the academic space and actually have a meaningful impact on people’s lives.

“After studying housing and neighborhood revitalization for 20 years, I wanted to put all of that knowledge and information into practice,” Hannon said. “This is exactly what we’re doing here right now.”