Julian Castro, secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), visited Selma in march for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and made a promise to return to study Selma’s public housing.

HUD representatives returned to Selma Wednesday to start a six-month process of collecting and analyzing data it needs to determine what can be done in Selma to improve the quality of living for those that reside in outdated public housing.

“They came yesterday, their whole team, and met with the Selma Housing Authority Commission for them to start their mission on doing an assessment that is needed to improve our neighborhoods and houses,” Evans said during last night’s Selma City Council Work Session.

“They talked about how they are going to work with us in terms of trying to identify areas of our city that could possibly be identified as areas that could bring about building affordable homes through technical assistance as well as through grant applications that they will assists us in trying to put together.”

In March, Castro, along with Congresswoman Terri Sewell and HUD representatives toured the city, giving Castro and HUD a chance to see some of the living situations people are put in due to low income.

“It looks to me that they are keeping their commitment to coming here to help Selma move forward in the area of neighborhood revitalization and affordable homes,” Evans said.

“They are going to start a six-month mission on getting all the data from the Selma Housing Authority. They are going to move forward and analyze it so we can get some Hope Six homes built in Selma.”

The Hope Six program is designed to support the needs of low-income elderly people to enhance their quality of life.

“There is a lot of energy there, and I like it,” said Councilman Greg Bjelke.

“I’ve seen before where people have come, and we’ve spoke to realtors that said, ‘We’re going to come to your community and build houses, and all you have to do is this, this and this,’ and it fizzles. This one feels like it is going to stick, and I like that.”

Councilwoman Susan Keith, who took part in Wednesday’s meeting, said it is exciting to think of the possibilities with HUD working in Selma.

“I was very impressed and excited about the possibilities of what it is going to mean for our community. It means we’re getting some real attention from Washington,” Keith said.

Evans said one question HUD representatives had was if the city had land that was available to donate for potential homes.

“They asked the questions of whether or not there was any property the city owned that possibly could be used to build more housing, and I said yes, the city does own a lot property that was donated that the city council could discuss appropriating for something like that,” Evans said.

Evans said once HUD gathers all the data they need and analyze it, they will potentially present a plan to the city council on moving forward with improving the quality of life for low income families in Selma.

“I think it means that there is an opportunity now for people to get out of those homes,” Evans said. “I feel good about it. I don’t think they came here as a smoke screen. I believe they came to get some things done.”