MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — Local leaders are working on adding more affordable housing in Mobile. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Tuesday morning for a 3 bedroom, two bath home on Saint Madar Street, near Dr. Martin Luther King Ave.
“We think is extremely important that the citizens and the MLK area really have a vibrant community, they get good homes, and we’re trying our best to make them affordable,” said Darrell Randle, MLK Avenue Redevelopment Board Chairman.
The Mobile County Commission gave the non-profit group $750,000 of pandemic relief funds to help build four homes in the MLK area. Randle says they’ll be priced in the lower six figure range.
“We do want to make sure this district is not forgotten about. You can see a lot of the people have moved out of the homes in the area. Some of the homes have really, really gone down, and we’re trying to make sure that we can kind of build, rebuild this district, rebuild this area, make people proud of their community again,” said Randle.
“Public dollars can’t do it all, but they can spark interest. So, this is the county’s way of kind of putting down its flag, saying this is important. And this is where we’re willing to put our resources and hoping that other developers will step up and come back in and build new, build houses in this community for people who want to live here,” said Mobile County Commissioner Merceria Ludgood.
The homes are being built in the Mobile’s Civil Rights and Cultural Heritage District. Ludgood says the master plan for the newly formed district will be unveiled in early September.
“It will encompass sites on both sides of MLK, sites that have been historically significant in the African American community, particularly in the era of civil rights,” said Ludgood.
