Birmingham Low Income Senior Living
Birmingham Alabama is known for its southern charm, its zesty barbecue, and its lively art scene, but did you know about all of the planning that goes into Birmingham's low-income senior living? That’s right, Birmingham, AL is committed to making sure that its low-income senior residents have a place to call home, even if it’s a rental unit.
Currently, several programs and initiatives are actively in place to help Birmingham low-income seniors find decent living and care. Those initiatives span from direct subsidies to building initiatives and financial incentives geared toward low-income senior community builders to ensure that adequate housing within Birmingham, Jefferson County, and nearby neighbor, Shelby County, can have the means to offer housing at a price that is easier on those senior residents with limited or fixed monthly incomes.
Why is Low Income Senior Living Hard to Find?
In previous years, low-income senior housing in Birmingham has been a hard item to find, leaving many to rely on help from friends and family. Not only has the low-income housing in Birmingham improved, but many of the units are also housed within communities that employ special security and care measures to make the burden of care easier on the supporting family members. A good example of this is the very wide selection of Birmingham’s low-income senior apartments that are offered as part of the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program.
The HUD HOME Program in Birmingham
The HUD Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) is one example of how Birmingham is working to create low-income living options to those seniors whose income may be low but not low enough to qualify for senior housing assistance under other programs. Locally, the HOME Program is administered through Jefferson County, which provides information and funding for new construction, Rehabilitation of an existing property, as well as direct financial assistance to low-income home buyers. In addition to providing services, Jefferson County, the county where Birmingham is located, also provides a list of the HOME Funded Properties on the website to aid Birmingham low-income seniors in finding affordable living options.
In addition to the Home program, Jefferson County also works to provide many services to help seniors in Birmingham (and surrounding areas) obtain help and resources when help is needed. An example of some of the items offered are transportation assistance, Education and Awareness topics, incontinence supplies, fans to prevent hot weather overheating, memory screenings, and referral services for things like home repairs and legal help.
Birmingham’s JCHA Provides Low-Income Housing Options
The JCHA (Jefferson County Housing Authority) Housing and Development Corporation is a non-profit arm of the JCHA. Its goal is to provide more affordable living options to senior residents, age 55 or greater, in Birmingham and nearby surrounding areas. This development arm relies on community financial participation instead of government subsidies as a means to provide these living options.
Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM) serves the senior community in so many ways, providing much-needed relief to those who need it the most. The GBM provides food assistance, clothing assistance and utility assistance to families who qualify. Although there is a limit to the number of people that they can help each month, they provide a consistent outreach that has been around since 1969.
What the JCCEO Does for Birmingham Low-Income Seniors
The Jefferson County Committee for Economic Opportunity (JCCEO) provides Birmingham low-income senior residents with programs that help with things like paying bills, grants, and emergency assistance. The JCCEO also provides Adult Day Care Services with a caring, safe, and secure environment for those adults who can’t stay alone at home during the day.
The JCCEO also provides resources for eye care services, medical health services, mental health services, and more on the JCCEO website.
In an effort to prevent homelessness amongst all age populations, Bridge Ministries provides help to those in need to find resources when they begin to have failing health issues. They work with local physicians as an outreach to help patients as income falls when prevailing illness is expected to cause financial hardships to those who already suffer from poverty issues.
One of the oldest Birmingham initiatives is the Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham (NHSB) program. NHSB is a non-profit 501©(3) program that has been around since 1970. Its mission is to “stabilize communities by offering programs and services that empower individuals to overcome their present and upcoming financial challenges.”
Low-Income Senior Apartments Near You
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National Programs Available in Birmingham, Alabama
In addition to Birmingham-specific low-income programs, many national programs are well-funded and well-used in Birmingham to provide safe and secure living options to the city’s senior population.
The LIHTC program is well implemented within Birmingham and in 2014 at least 35 Census Tracts were identified as having the potential for providing low-income housing project funding which should help to expand Birmingham’s low-income senior housing development.
Birmingham has also received notice that HUD will provide $150 million toward capital advance toward the construction of new Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program.
The Jefferson County Housing Authority maintains a list of open enrollments within its website in order to better help those who need to apply for HCVP the means to locate areas with open enrollment. That same list can be found here as well.
When it comes to a city that truly tries to expand senior living options, the programs and services that are offered to Birmingham's Low-Income senior residents are hard to beat.
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