By Javacia Harris Bowser | The Birmingham Times
Mayor Randall L. Woodfin announced on Monday the City of Birmingham’s 2026 legislative agenda — a package of proposals designed to aid the city in preventing blight, revitalizing neighborhoods, and expanding affordable housing opportunities.
“Birmingham’s legislative agenda is about one thing: giving our city the tools it needs to hold negligent property owners accountable, revitalize neighborhoods, and keep housing affordable for the people who call Birmingham home,” Woodfin said. “Strong neighborhoods are the foundation of a strong city.”
City officials explained that these proposals aim to tackle the complete cycle of neighborhood decline. The measures would enable acquiring and repurposing abandoned properties, prevent blight before it takes hold, and ensure that residents benefit from the revitalization occurring throughout Birmingham.
Flanked by elected officials and local business leaders, Woodfin outlined four key legislative priorities:
- Community Land Trust Enabling Legislation: This law would empower municipalities to create Community Land Trusts, a proven, nationally recognized model that supports long-term affordable homeownership by separating ownership of the land from the home itself.
- Jefferson County Land Bank Act: This proposal would strengthen Birmingham’s existing Land Bank Authority by streamlining the process to acquire tax-delinquent and abandoned properties. It would also establish a Jefferson County Land Bank to enable municipal land banks to collaborate across city boundaries.
- Blighted Property Registration Act: This proposal would authorize major cities like Birmingham to set up mandatory registries for vacant properties, charge registration fees, and enforce maintenance standards for long-neglected properties owned by absentee landlords.
- Birmingham Housing Trust Fund: The proposed fund would provide a dedicated funding source for affordable housing development, preservation, and homeowner assistance within Birmingham, helping ensure working families are not displaced as neighborhoods experience new investment.
Woodfin has shared that in the past eight years, the city has spent $25 million on private property to remove blight and care for overgrown lots not owned by the city. Oftentimes, abandoned properties are listed under a limited liability corporation (LLC), making absentee landlords hard to track down. The Blighted Property Registration Act would help hold property owners accountable.
“Too often, Birmingham taxpayers are forced to spend public dollars tearing down blighted buildings on private property,” Woodfin said. “We should be investing those resources into libraries, parks, and neighborhood amenities instead.”
Though the 2026 Alabama Legislative session is coming to an end, supporters of the legislation are optimistic.
“Cleaning up our neighborhoods, getting rid of blight, it is not a partisan issue,” said Alabama State Senator Merika Coleman. “So goes Birmingham, so goes the rest of the county. All of the surrounding municipalities come into Birmingham to work, to play, to use our amenities. These are issues collectively that we can go and sing Kumbaya together as both Democrats and Republicans and clean up Birmingham, give Birmingham municipal court the tools that it needs, especially with the blight registration, and be able to do some great things together for Jefferson County.”
Woodfin stressed that Birmingham is not asking for special treatment.
“We’re asking for the same tools cities across America already have,” he said, “tools that allow us to protect neighborhoods, prevent blight, and invest in the people who live here.”
