Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham Inc

NHS focuses on housing stability at various levels of housing choice, whether rental or ownership, and provides an array of support through eviction/foreclosure prevention, HUD-certified housing counseling, renovation and repairs, and financial coaching.

Our Goals Include:
1. Provide short term, immediate relief for renters and landlords.
2. Educate families on housing options and Fair Housing practices
3. Preserve investment for existing homeowners through foreclosure prevention counseling.
4. Continue updating major exterior systems to qualifying owner occupied properties.

COVID-19 Relief Strategies Include:
1. Emergency Rental Assistance
*Provide one (1) month of rental assistance to 15-20 tenants throughout Jefferson County.
*Engage with multifamily property owners who have tenants that have identified as impacted by COVID-19.
*Provide financial coaching for qualifying families

2. Personal Finance Coaching through NHS Birmingham
*How to read a credit repot
*Recognizing scams during the COVID-19 pandemic
(All Counseling to be delivered via Zoom and voice appointment.)

NHS is focusing resources on low-income families in West Jefferson who have experienced job loss, furlough, or reduction in hours as a result of COVID-19 and providing a lifeline when many of these community members have no other housing choice and are struggling to maintain financial stability and pay back rent to prevent eviction.

NHS Birmingham is currently engaged with varied landlords and property management
companies to maintain a healthier working relationship aimed at reducing evictions through
financial literacy coaching and engagements to understand the economic hurdles the families
impacted by COVID 19 are facing. NHS Birmingham has a small portfolio of affordable
housing units; unfortunately, all 14 units are leased with a waiting list. Part of our strategic plan
is to increase our number of units to 30 so we can have additional units available for families that
will fall in a more affordable pricing structure and not present as heavy a cost burden for
working families throughout Birmingham and Jefferson County. A tertiary goal of providing
affordable housing options for working families will be to transition the families into
homeownership where wealth can begin to be built and passed on to the next generation.

Neighborhood Housing Services of Birmingham, Inc. (NHSB) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and
was chartered in 1970 with a mission to stabilize communities by offering programs and services that
empower individuals to overcome their present and upcoming financial challenges. Since its founding, NHSB
has steadily expanded its service area and program offerings in order to ensure that its outcomes remain
relevant to the changing needs in Alabama. NHSB has remained laser-focused on neighborhood revitalization,
financial education, homeownership preservation and promotion, and blight alleviation for the past 40 years.

Our lender partners (Wells Fargo, Regions, BBVA) assist providing resources to NHS Birmingham for
operating costs related to program delivery of homeownership counseling and education. Our lender
partners also attend either virtually or in person our homebuyer education workshops to advise first time
homebuyers on credit worthiness and lending products for which participants could potentially qualify.

Healthy Housing Initiative: (Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Program)
Our Healthy Housing Initiative provides resources and repairs to homeowners throughout the Jefferson
County community. The resources come in the form of a nonrecourse grant to repair major systems in the
home such as roofing, HVAC, electrical, plumbing. We also conduct energy audits to ensure the effectiveness
of the repair work that has been conducted. Our partners at the City of Birmingham have earmarked $1.4
million in Neighborhood Revitalization Funding to reimburse NHS Birmingham for expenditures related to
hard construction costs of this program.

Our partners at Navigate Affordable Housing Partners have earmarked over $ 600,000.00 expand the program farther into Jefferson County. To date our organization has conducted over 60 rehabs. Our work primarily focuses on underserved and low to moderate income families in western Jefferson County. Our work has led us to engage with partners at the Woodlawn Foundation and East Lake Foundation as well, however that work is geared to assisting families that have an economic hardship due to COVID-19.

NHS Birmingham has partnered with The Women's Fund, Woodlawn Foundation, our lenders, and NeighborWorks America to assist qualifying families with one month's rent payment. To date, our organization has assisted 28 families totaling over $29,000.00 in direct rent payments to families impacted by the pandemic. Families must qualify and have a demonstrated (written and verified) hardship (i.e. furlough, job loss. or hours reduced) due to COVID-19.