Former Birmingham Councilman Takes Helm at Bessemer Housing Authority, Makes Homeownership a Priority

A familiar name is the new leader of a housing agency that serves hundreds of families.

Steven Hoyt, a veteran housing executive and former longtime Birmingham city councilman, was recently named executive director of the Bessemer Housing Authority.

“I’m just glad I was in the right place at the right time and able and capable of stepping up to the plate,” said Hoyt, who has worked at the Bessemer Housing authority for four years.

“My professional development has been in and around housing and economic development so it really gives me a great joy to know that I can share my vision with the residents as well as the employees in terms of where we need to be. I’m excited about the whole process.”

Hoyt replaces longtime director Cortney Coleman who recently resigned his position. As director, Hoyt will oversee seven communities that serve about 3,000 residents.

“I thank the board of commissioners and our chairman Terry Dawson for the honor of leading the Bessemer Housing Authority and having confidence in my leadership ability,” Hoyt said. “I am very grateful for this opportunity.”

One of Hoyt’s first official duties was last week as he presided over a program celebrating graduates of Youth Build, a self-sufficiency program.

He called the moment significant because it also represents a theme he plans to stress as executive director. Hoyt said the Bessemer Housing Authority will begin a new era with an enhanced focus on guiding residents more into self-sufficiency and homeownership.

“Homeownership is something that’s in my soul and in my lungs,” he said, recalling his time overseeing early homebuilding and ownership initiatives while at Birmingham’s housing authority.

Hoyt also wants Bessemer to ramp up efforts to build houses that can be sold to residents at affordable terms.

“We’re going to be looking at developing a strategic plan around homeownership because after all, public housing was designed to be transitional housing,” he said. “So it is incumbent upon us as an agency to empower our residents to become homeowners, and that’s my number one focus.”

Hoyt said he’s already spoken to Bessemer Mayor Louise Alexander about their shared vision for the housing authority which includes promoting homeownership.

“Already our directions are mirrored,” Hoyt said. “We have not done homeownership to the degree that it has made a significant difference, so that’s going to be my number one focus.”

Conversations with mayors and other elected leaders come naturally to Hoyt. He served on the Birmingham City Council for 16 years, including a stint as council president-protem.

He said those political experiences also helped him forge relationships that translated into new partners for the housing authority.

“When I came to work about four years ago and was able to get the city and the housing authority moving in the same direction,” Hoyt said.

For example, Hoyt cited a recent federal appropriation of $850,000 from U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell to help fund the Dream Center, a multipurpose community and resource facility.

The Bessemer Housing Authority is among just a few of its size without a community gathering space. Hoyt, who has been part of the planning and funding committee for the project, will now oversee its opening in early 2027.

Hoyt earlier this year completed a program for aspiring housing executives through the Certified Executive Director Education Program at Rutgers University.

The certification is a professional program offered jointly by Rutgers University and the Public Housing Authorities Directors Association.

Hoyt’s elevation to executive director is the capstone of a career in housing that began as a college work-study student in 1982.

Still, his experience began even earlier and more personally as a childhood resident of public housing in Gadsden. It was at Colley Homes in Gadsden that Hoyt was given his first lessons in responsibility, community and pride no matter his address. His mother, Catherine, made sure her children understood their potential.

“My mother had this thing that you can be in a place and not of it, and so we had goals and we had responsibilities,” Hoyt recalled. “She was firm, but we had a lot of laughter and we had a lot of good times growing up. It was a village.”

Outside of work, Hoyt has been in ministry for 23 years and currently is pastor of Noble Chapel CME Church in Birmingham.

He said each of his experiences, from Birmingham City Hall, in public housing and at the pulpit, have all delivered lessons that prepared him for his latest role.

“It’s full circle for me,” Hoyt said. “I know what it is to be a resident. I know what it is to be a property manager. I know what it is to be a development administrator. I know what it is to have experience of transitional housing for homeless women and children, and now executive director of the best housing authority in Alabama.”