Mobile To Close Another Housing Complex

The 191 units in R.V. Taylor Homes on Michigan Avenue in Mobile will be closed in the next couple of years, WKRG reports. The Mobile Housing Authority (MHA) has plans to empty and demolish the complex, a trend following a similar end for the nearby Thomas James Place (Birdville) and Boykin Towers on Michigan Avenue. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that oversees public housing, has been moving to get rid of large housing projects in cities across the country. In efforts to reduce poverty and crime in concentrated low-income dwellings, vouchers to subsidize the cost of living elsewhere—in apartments and rental properties throughout Mobile—are being given. The source reports that 3,500 voucher recipients are now living throughout Mobile. Once R.V. Taylor closes, residents may move to other units in the city’s dwindling public housing portfolio or take vouchers and move to other parts of town. MHA plans to market the former Thomas James Place and R.V. Taylor properties.