Mobile woman whose idea inspired new housing initiative to get program’s first house

By Brendan Kirby

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    MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — Jacqueline Majumder owns a vacant piece of land in Trinity Gardens. It’s been in her family for years.

“Many, many years ago, my great-great-grandfather used to have a garden on that lot,” she said Thursday. “I used to pick vegetables on that land.”

But Majumder hasn’t been able to afford a home there – until now. She will be the first participant in an innovative city affordable housing program, and Mayor Sandy Stimpson said at a news conference that she inspired its creation.

The mayor said Majumder asked city officials if she could use her Section 8 housing voucher to help buy a house. That has not been permitted under Section 8, which typically helps low-income residents afford to rent apartments.

But the city came up with a way to make it happen, and the result is a program the mayor calls HoPE – Homeownership Provides Equity. The city is using $10 million from the American Rescue Plan Act – the COVID-19 relief program passed by Congress in 2021 – to help people make down payments on new houses.

Stimpson said the $10 million should pay for the construction of 50 to 75 houses over the next three or four years. Qualifying applicants will have to come up with 1 percent of the cost but then can use their Section 8 vouchers on mortgage payments instead of rent. Just like with traditional rental assistance, recipients will contribute based on their income and will pay no more than 30 percent of what they earn. And the interest will be a far-below-market rate of 2 percent.

“Typically, when people think of vouchers, Section 8 housing, all you think about is renting,” Stimpson said. “So you take the same voucher and you apply that, you know, to start paying down a mortgage.”

The program is open to any Mobile County resident meeting income requirements, but there are some restrictions. People need to have a good history of making payments toward their public housing, and they must be served by a public housing authority that allows Section 8 vouchers to be used in this way. According to city officials, the authorities in Mobile and Prichard do allow it.

In Majumder’s case, construction will begin soon. She said the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home of about 1,100 square feet will fulfill her long-time dream of returning to the neighborhood where she grew up.

“This is quite an experience that I have been hoping for for a very long time,” she said. “And I truly believe God is good.”

The HoPE project is one of several initiatives Stimpson has launched to encourage affordable housing and reverse the city’s population decline.

Majumder’s home will be the 17th in Mobile built by Affordable Homes Gulf Coast but the first under the HoPE program. Terry Harbin, the firm’s regional president, said it is gold-plated, which mean the insurance costs will be significantly lower.

“We’re constantly looking for available lots where there is Mobile water and sewer, and Alabama Power,” he said.

Jamey Roberts, the city’s senior director of neighborhood development, said the city typically has 50 abandoned or vacant properties at any one time from lien foreclosures or tax delinquencies that it can use for the program. He said the city’s homeownership rate is between 50 percent and 55 percent, well off the national average of 65 percent.

“It is a real opportunity to transform neighborhoods in the entire city,” Stimpson said. “So we’re real excited to roll it out. … Somebody that owns a property is gonna take better care of it than somebody that rents the property.”

Long term, city officials said they hope to keep the program going with revenue from the mortgage payments along with additional federal housing dollars. Roberts said the steady stream of mortgage payments helps offset the construction costs even if they do not cover the full amount.

“We only lose 20 to $40,000 per house,” he said.

City Councilman Cory Penn, whose district includes Trinity Gardens, praised the program.

“We have an opportunity now to give people hope, and that’s why I love the name of the program,” he said.

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