Birmingham City Council creates new fair housing committee

The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday voted to create a new committee that will promote fair housing.

To make room for the new fair housing committee, the council abolished a committee that had handled issues relating to the 2020 Census and redistricting.

The City Council has a total of 13 committees. The housing committee will have Council member J.T. Moore as chair and will consist of Moore and two other council members, Carol Clarke and Darrell O’Quinn.

They will focus on expanding the city’s work to promote fair housing, said City Council President Wardine Alexander.

O’Quinn noted that the Fair Housing Act was signed into law 55 years ago on April 11, 1968.

The council adopted a proclamation on fair housing and pledged to continue expanding opportunities to make housing available and affordable to all.

The City Council voted to spend $350,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the Habitat for Humanity program to offer grants to help residents replace roofs. The program is called the Protecting Good Housing Renovation Program. Council member Crystal Smitherman also contributed another $100,000 in funds from her District 6 budget to the program, for a total allocation of $450,000.

“Having an adequate roof over your head is a right we need to make sure we’re giving to everyone,” said Amanda Creel, chief executive officer of the Birmingham Association of Realtors, who attended the reading of the proclamation.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race or color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status or disability.

Among its initiatives to improve housing opportunities, Birmingham has partnered with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in a program called GROWTH by NCRC to build 200 homes around the city, with Woodlawn and Oak Hill in Belview Heights as initial demonstrations of that plan.