Re-Housing New Orleans

TNAC: Was there adequate public housing before the storm?

Lucinda Flowers: In New Orleans before Katrina, we had about 30 percent of the households earning less than $15,000 a year. We certainly had a huge poverty issue, and a lot of public housing was in very rough shape. In the long run, it’s going to be very important to move toward a mixed-income model, creating communities that provide opportunities for all the folks in those neighborhoods to come back and participate in the economic rebirth of New Orleans.

James Gilmore: When you talk about which agencies and organizations should be involved in making sure that mixed-income developments are brought about and that public housing needs are addressed, it’s clear that participation is needed at all levels - at HUD [Department of Housing and Urban Development], on the federal government level, and locally with Orleans Parish and the office of community development. But the state is going to have to play a larger role in public housing. Prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the state didn’t have a department of housing. They played no role in the way the local housing authorities governed their operations and policy. The Louisiana Housing Finance Agency worked a little bit with the public housing authorities, but there was no significant role in terms of the state’s influence on policy and implementation.
In our state, unfortunately, public housing has been looked upon as an issue for HUD at the federal level to take care of and monitor. That’s a role that the state has never really had. Now, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have opened up an opportunity for us to have a more influential role in public housing.

TNAC: Are New Orleans residents anxious to see a comprehensive planning and zoning scheme put into place?

Lydia Jackson: I think citizens want, first and foremost, some sense of return to normality. I’m not so certain that in every instance they’re going to wait until this planning process is finished to make those decisions. We’ve got these home assistance centers set up in the plan - which are great access points for low-wealth citizens and citizens who need help in navigating their path home. But for many citizens, they’re not used to consulting the government, the agency, or the bureaucrat about where they want to live and buy a house. You’re going to have that free-market dynamic at work. 

Angela Glover Blackwell: This planning could be powerful in terms of getting people engaged in addressing the issues that have been so controversial. Planning is almost always a good thing, if people feel that their voices are heard, if they have the same transparent information in going forward, and that there are real decisions that will be impacted as a result of their deliberations.
In terms of how to make sure the voices of low-income people of color are heard, some things are pretty obvious. There has to be strong, effective outreach to let people know this process is going forward, and that their voices are important. This tells people how to engage, and when to engage. People need to see organizations and leaders they trust involved in the process. The process cannot move so quickly that if you don’t come early, you won’t be heard. It’s going to take people who lack trust some time to warm up to the process. It needs to go on long enough for people to observe others they trust participating.

Lydia Jackson: It’s further complicated by the fact that half the city’s population is currently living elsewhere.

Kalima Rose: This has all sorts of race and income lenses. Renters who are displaced and people who lived in public housing are the least likely to have resources to be able to come back and participate in planning processes. Homeowners who were fully insured and able to secure housing elsewhere are the most likely to be able to participate. There is momentum in the direction of exclusion just by the kinds of resource bases people start with. Those kinds of issues need to be explicitly addressed and overcome in the outreach efforts.

TNAC: What can the state or the city do to be more aggressive about offering tax incentives to developers of affordable housing?

Lucinda Flowers: I’m encouraged that the state legislature has just passed an inclusionary zoning bill. It is a permissive bill, but I’m encouraged that the inclusionary zoning conversation is starting in the state. That could hopefully lead to some good things.

James Gilmore: The state is headed in a very good direction in its conversations around inclusionary zoning policy. Though the bill is permissive, I hope in the next year that we can seek out municipalities and communities interested in learning more about inclusionary zoning, so that we can have a model example of the benefits - in order to make the bill a mandate. Definitely the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency will have to rethink its priorities and look at its criteria and provide better incentives to developers, as well as set stronger criteria to encourage them to develop mixed-income and affordable housing. I also think our state is in desperate need of more capable non-profit developers. I see non-profit developers as a key to affordable housing development. In our state, though we have good non-profits in the business of housing development, I think their capacity in the rebuilding process is key to meeting affordable housing needs. Non-profit developers tend to understand the importance of affordable housing.

TNAC: Are there any neighborhoods that are already doing these kinds of things?

James Gilmore: New Orleans attempted to do a couple of mixed-income developments. That development has opportunities for improvement, however. There are many lessons that can be learned from that attempt. That was a couple years ago. There were some management issues, as well as issues where citizens felt left out of the process and displaced. Is there a model of mixed-income development in Louisiana? Not that I’m aware of. But is there an opportunity to learn from the mixed-income development that it has? And to study other mixed-income communities across the country to see what they have done, and to do it better? Absolutely.

Angela Glover Blackwell: James, I think the state has found that national organizations like The Enterprise Foundation and others have helped as the state has been trying to figure out how to have a more equitable rebuilding.

James Gilmore: That’s absolutely true. We could not have done all that we’ve done without the national organizations and think tanks assisting us. The state had a shortage of human capital in the area of housing and community development, so it has been beneficial to the state that national groups have been willing to assist us in creating the equitable policies and the Road Home Program [a $9 billion state plan that assists Louisiana residents whose homes were damaged].

Angela Glover Blackwell: Concerned citizens everywhere in this country need to continue to make their voices heard about their expectations regarding the Gulf Coast. Certainly right after the tragedy, the American people were very clear with their voices and money that they expected this country would respond to the crisis in a way that made everyone close to whole again. That need continues. We need for the federal government to continue to play the role they have been playing. We need more money, and more support, and it’s really up to everybody to speak to their elected officials and continue to work through their faith institutions. This crisis is far from over.