The University of Alabama and the state public health department has officially launched a project to repair 150 homes in the Black Belt.
The Alabama Healthy Homes program will devote $2 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to improve the quality of living conditions in the region over the next two years.
But some in the affected communities say the money won’t go far enough.
“We’re probably going to have more need than resources,” York Mayor Willie Lake said. “That was my main concern. We want to temper people’s expectations, because if we get 200 applications, we don’t want 200 people to think they’re going to get help.”
The Black Belt’s high poverty rates lead to a large number of residents without the means to address problems in their homes like leaky roofs and lead paint. Other environmental hazards that the Healthy Homes program seeks to address are mold, allergens, asthma irritants, carbon monoxide, pesticides and radon.
“Another thing: Our people are mostly not homeowners. The majority of them are renters,” Lake said. “It’s ‘impoverished’ for a reason. We’re called a distressed community for a reason.”
York has just over 2,000 residents, and about 760 of them live below the federal poverty line. Lake said the majority of those people are likely to have a home problem that they want fixed. He says he supports the program fully, but he doesn’t want residents to be disappointed if they don’t make it into the program.
University of Alabama project leader Michael Rasbury said they will prioritize homeowners, the elderly and those with the greatest needs. Only single-family residences are eligible for the program. On the applications, residents must provide household income, how many people live in the home and family health history.
Several other Black Belt mayors echoed concerns that their communities will become frustrated with the finite help available.
“We have limited resources. We can’t change that right now,” director of the UA Life Research Institute Sharlene Newman said. “But we’re not walking into this community and then walking away. Our goal is to really do what we can do in these communities in the long term and develop long-lasting relationships in the community every year.”
The Life Research Institute and the SafeState program are the two University of Alabama groups leading the project.
Newman and her colleagues acknowledged that the …….