Prayers for Our City: November 4, 2019 – Government
“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.” Deuteronomy 15:11 NIV
This week we ask You, Father, to pour out blessings on our Huntsville Housing Authority (HHA) which administers federal subsidies that support almost 3,000 units of public and other assisted housing. Guide and oversee their work with builders, developers, lenders, and private housing providers to expand affordable housing opportunities in Madison County. Give them creative ways to encourage and support self-sufficiency and offer resources for current and aspiring homeowners. [Public housing in Huntsville includes 13 developments with 1,700 apartment units that house 4,000 of our low-income citizens. In addition, the Authority manages a HUD Housing Choice Voucher Program that provides more than 1,500 low-income families with rental assistance in the private market.]
Grant wisdom, compassion, and leadership skills to Executive Director, Mrs. Sandra Eddlemon, who works closely with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Huntsville city officials, and other County departments and affordable housing entities to provide high quality, affordable housing opportunities to low- and moderate-income working families, individuals and elderly in our community. Bless the five-member Board of Commissioners that oversee HHA’s work, headed by Delvin Sullivan, Board Chairman.
We thank You, Lord, that our Housing Authority has won for our city a $1.3 million federal grant to spend three years developing a plan to transform a large area west of Memorial Parkway into a “model mixed-income, mixed-use community. Lord, this change will close Butler Terrace, our oldest and largest public housing development. As federal housing vouchers are given to these residents to move to other apartments and rental homes whose owners accept them, we pray for Your peace, grace, and good communication between these affected residents and the HHA. After the three-year planning time period, the city will still have to apply for federal funding to implement the plans. So we commit this to Your oversight, Father. This also impacts the efforts to segregate nearby public schools which is being supervised by a federal judge. All this sounds complicated, Lord, so we ask for Your help in every aspect of these developments. (For a more complete account see this AL.com article.)
Holy Spirit, we invite You to be mediator and peace-maker in the difficult situations that arise between HHA and the community. May Your plans and purposed be accomplished that will truly alleviate suffering and poverty. And may rich and poor alike in our city come to know and experience Your grace.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV
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