Housing Authority CEO Looks To Residents To Help Curb Gun Violence
Police are investigating the shooting death of a man Thursday night in Birmingham’s Tom Brown Village, just two days after another public housing shooting in Gate City, which claimed the life of 33-year-old Andreas Kashif Brown. Such incidents are not uncommon. But as Birmingham Housing Authority CEO Michael Lundy wraps up his first year on the job, he’s looking to make public housing safer.
More than 5,000 families live in Birmingham public housing. Lundy says too many residents are either killed, wounded or affected by guns and violence.
“Part of it is the fact that some would-be criminals have a sense of a safe haven when they go to certain communities because they feel comfortable in being able to perpetrate some of their criminal activities,” Lundy says. “We’re here to say that day has passed us by.”
Lundy came to Birmingham from Huntsville. Here he’s turning to residents of public housing to help battle the crime and violence with simple measures.
“What we’ve asked the residents to do is to volunteer information, to be eyes and ears to our police patrols and to the housing authority when you see negative activity in the community,” Lundy says.
But he acknowledges snitching in the inner city isn’t popular. At a recent community forum in the Kingston community, Eldridge Knighton had a message for those who might think about causing trouble around the place he calls home.
“I’m not fixing to lose my apartment for you because I need some place for me to stay,” Knighton says. “We may not have the best, but you’ve got a roof over your head.”
Residents of public housing who get nabbed for illegal activity can get kicked out. And if friends or family come over and break the law, that could also lead to eviction.
Lundy says guns are often the source of the problem. So the Housing Authority recently offered money in exchange for guns. The recent gun buyback in Kingston and Gate City netted 30 weapons.
“We received .22 calibers, .45, .44 calibers, pumps. We received them all,” says Windham Sommerville, property manager at Gate City. “They could be fired by mistake or be in the wrong hands of someone.”
He says it has really helped to get some illegal weapons off the street.
Housing officials say registered weapons stored safely are okay. Resident Betty Covington says she’s holding on to her registered gun for her own protection.
“I’ve had it since 1997 and I haven’t had to use it, and thank God,” Covington says.
Housing officials say if they meet their goal of providing safe and clean public housing, Covington can keep her gun, and people with illegal weapons will be kept out of public housing.
Russia launched an experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, the U.S. says
Ukraine raised alarm suggesting Russia may have used an intercontinental ballistic missile to hit the city of Dnipro, but the U.S. National Security Council does not believe it was an ICBM.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz withdraws as Trump’s attorney general nominee
Allegations of sex trafficking and drug use had stirred controversy over Matt Gaetz's nomination as attorney general.
This year’s FAFSA is officially open. Early review says it’s ‘a piece of cake’
The FAFSA form is now open to students hoping to get help paying for college in the 2025-26 academic year. Students can expect a much smoother process compared to the last cycle.
He was stuck in a hospital for 8 months. How states can fail people with disabilities
In Georgia and other states, the federal government oversees the treatment of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities, because the states have been unable to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the subsequent Olmstead ruling.
Foreign nationals propel U.S. science. Visa limits under Trump could change that
The incoming Trump administration is likely to crack down on the H-1B visas used by tech companies and research institutions to hire top talent from other countries.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
