Chris Shirley (00:06)
The Bessemer Emergency Housing Repair Program makes life-changing improvements for senior citizens throughout the Marvel City.

Since 2024, Navigate Affordable Housing Partners has made critical repairs to 48 homes, including the roof on Betty Jean Bryant's home.

size and damage. Okay, so this you just did the roof on this one. so the roof and soffits so the under part. It didn't I have any fascia board. So we just did the soffits. So in other words, we saved the house. Umm the roof, Roof is probably one of the best investments that you could make because it does help the house prolong the house. Okay, Bryant's home is one of 10 repaired in District 3.

And in District 2, another 16 properties have also been repaired. Don't say that. This family. Walter May Edwards has lived here for years. At her age, both her front and back steps had become dangerous. She reached out to the city for help. We put this in to give her access out of the back door, come down, landing, and then her carport is right there.

I told em' Ms. Ewards, you wrote your name in there as soon as I left. You didn't let it dry. Prior to me becoming a city council person, I never knew that the city had programs like this. So in turns, this actually connect the dots to help our senior citizens with, you know, home repair of the roof, with the deck, with the AC units. You know, we're blessed. I look at it as a three-fold blessing.

We're blessed to have Navigate. We're blessed to have the city that's doing this. And then we're blessed. The citizens are blessed. ⁓

I can only speak for self. Can't Speak for nobody else. I really appreciate it. Because I was scared to come out because right where you standing, it had started giving down. Yeah, she couldn't get out the door. So I always go out the front. right there and these steps were just... All this... you couldn't walk over here. One of the steps was broke. No, you couldn't walk over here at all. We have a nice deck now.

I didn't think I was going to get it. But the Lord provides. Yes he did. I know who  in charge. and it ain't y'all. It ain't us. And just down the street we checked in on Gwen Wilson living in a home that's more than 80 years old. Wilson's claw foot tub was no longer safe and that wasn't the only issue. had to go under the crawl space and literally do some foundation work, which is not really what you want to be doing. Normally bathroom tearouts.

when

you see them on TV, they tear that, and put back in. We're having to go under the house to fix plumbing.

I was patient and I waited on my application to be filled up and get a good job and I'm very much pleased with where am. HVAC units are also included in the program. We're giving them a years worth of filters, tell them to change them every four months and try to maintain it best we can. Navigate has installed 15 in homes across the city. A huge improvement to the quality of life for residents dealing with Alabama's brutal summer heat. I get more feedback on HVACs than anything.

They love it. One lady said, I've never slept so good in my life.