A new $16.2 million apartment community, Glen Arbor, opened its doors on Friday to seniors and families in Mobile, adding 112 newly built rental units to the city’s affordable housing stock. The development is part of a broader push by city officials to expand quality, income-restricted housing options for low- and moderate-income residents.
Residents at Glen Arbor will have access to a swimming pool, a toddler splash area, a fitness center, a business center, an on-site laundry facility and a basketball court. Rent begins at $380 a month for a one-bedroom unit, $445 for two bedrooms and $502 for three bedrooms. To qualify, a family of four must have an income at or below $44,100.
The project was financed through a mix of public and private sources. The City of Mobile contributed $1,125,000 through the federally funded HOME Investment Partnerships Program, while the Alabama Housing Finance Authority supplied the remainder of the funding needed to complete construction.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson credited the developer for helping the city meet a pressing need. “I want to thank the developer TBG Residential and the Alabama Housing Finance Authority for investing in the City of Mobile,” Stimpson said. “We share a responsibility and a commitment to ensure our low-to-moderate income families has access to quality, affordable housing. We will continue to build new living spaces and restore old ones, because every citizen deserves a home.”
Glen Arbor is one piece of a larger affordable housing effort underway across Mobile. The city is also restoring five blighted shotgun houses along West Prichard Avenue in a public-private partnership with developer Lyn McDonald, which will create five additional single-family rental units for low-to-moderate income families once complete.
In the Campground neighborhood, the city is building a new three-bedroom, two-bath home on a lot that once housed a drug den for roughly 40 years, again using HOME Program funding. Officials say the project reflects an effort to convert blighted or long-vacant sites into productive housing stock rather than leaving them empty.
The HOME Investment Partnerships Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is one of the largest federal block grant programs aimed specifically at creating affordable housing for low-income households, and cities like Mobile routinely pair it with state housing finance agency funds to make large-scale developments like Glen Arbor financially viable. Affordable housing access has remained a persistent concern in Mobile and across South Alabama, as rents in the region have climbed faster than incomes for many working families in recent years.