Topics GeographyHeadlinesInfrastructureKatrinaNeighborhoodsPeopleRecreation
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Post Katrina
With 7,379 rental units (in 10 big projects plus other scattered sites)
and 8,981 Section 8 vouchers, HANO served
14,000 families consisting of 49,000 individuals prior to Katrina (more
than 10% of the population). Of the 7,379 housing units 5,641 were in
use with most of the
remainder targeted for demolition and redevelopment.
Residents lived in public housing an average of 9 years once they
managed to get in. Long waiting lists show demand exceeded supply. Once
they were in, residents paid 30%
of their average $6,000 annual income for housing.
The projects were built between the late thirties and early sixties in an effort to provide housing for all types of lower income citizens. Racially segregated at first, the better locations and construction were reserved for white residents (St. Thomas and Iberville) while blacks got the rest. Desegregation in the 1960's saw white residents fleeing to other housing. Urban folklore suggests the projects provided decent housing for many until they took a decided turn for the worse in the 1980's and 1990's.
What happened is a topic for more research. Some theories include: .....federal funding shortages, 1980's national recession & stagflation,
changes in the city's economy and tax base, the oil bust across southeast Louisiana,
drug enforcement and increase in violent crime, changes in the city's governance and demographics, flight of middle class blacks to New Orleans East, white flight to Metairie and the suburbs.
Post Katrina
By May, 2006 876 rental units had been reoccupied and 1297
vouchers were in use. Construction at Fischer, Guste and RiverGarden
(St. Thomas) of about 1,000 additional mixed use units was under way.
In June 2006 HUD announced a total of 2,100 rental units would be
open within 60 days.
In a major development HUD also raised the value of the Section
8 voucher from $670 per month to $964 for a one-bedroom home; $1,128
for a
two-bedroom; $1,447 for a three-bedroom; and on up to the
cap of $2,275 for a seven-bedroom home; $803 for a one-bedroom
apartment and $940 for a
two-bedroom. Increasing the value of the vouchers seems like a natural
reaction to the 25% increase in rental prices in the area but is
problematic for non-Section 8 renters because it further bids up the
price of housing. Landlords often prefer Section 8 renters because the
federal government stands behind the rental making payments on time and
providing additional money for renovations every 24 months.
In an unintended consequence police, teachers, restaurant and hotel
workers, laborers, and other middle class working families are being
driven out of their rental housing by Section 8
residents. This will adversely affect the recovery of the city.
As demolition of the big housing developments progressed amid protests in 2007, HUD/HANO officials continued to claim that unused units remained available in the city.
Reported Jan 19 - HANO has welcomed residents back to Iberville housing project, where 45 units were
occupied as of this week, which is about 7 percent of its pre- storm
population. Upon her return, one woman expressed relief to be "home" explaining that she had lived in Iberville for 27 years.
Iberville housing project on the outskirts of the French Quarter was
one of the crime centers of New Orleans prior to the storm. Its
presence sealed the demise of the Storyville
district and has contributed to a number of tourist murders when people
wandered off the beaten path. Mixing low income housing with tourism is
a
continuing formula for disaster.
B.W.Cooper is another housing project in mid-city. Cooper, which is vacant and sealed off with metal doors to
ward off vandalism or squatting, had 300 of its 576 units spared from
flooding and is currently under construction. HANO is dealing with mold
removal, general cleaning and other repairs in order to bring the units
up to compliance.
Repopulating the housing projects is certainly a way to rebuild the
city - exactly the way it was before but now without police and
hospitals. Isn't it amazing just how economically blighted the areas around the housing projects become over time? Why is that?
HUD announced June 14, 2006 that it would tear down four public housing
developments in the city including: St. Bernard, Lafitte, C.J. Peete
and B.W. Cooper. Four other developments would be repaired and reopened.HUD announced on December 19, 2006 that it would allow people to move back into parts the four of the projects slated for demolition. Calling the approach phased redevelopment the HUD plan drew immediate support from Mayor Nagin. No one asked where hospital beds, school rooms, police presence, and other items of infrastructure for returning residents would come from. HUD indicated that former residents would have priority.
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