PolicyLink - Louisiana - Rebuilding New Orleans

Based on the successful track record with the state of Louisiana, PolicyLink was invited into a formal partnership with the local government in New Orleans, advising the key agency responsible for setting direction for policy development—the Department of Housing, Planning and Economic Development, and facilitating the strategic development of its sister agency--the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA).

One of our first projects with the city involved developing a policy platform on equitable development, which incorporated the original Ten Points to Guide the Rebuilding and specific Equitable Development Strategies for each.

Across the New Orleans metro area, nearly 228,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, of which about 40 percent were owner-occupied homes and approximately 60 percent were rental units. While over half of the damaged housing was rental housing, only a third of the units will be replaced through federal recovery support.

As part of our assessment work, PolicyLink analyzed losses of low cost rental housing, and monitored the plans for both new and rehabilitation of residential housing in the city.

An Analysis of Development Trends

Mapping the City’s Development Trends

An Analysis of Development Trends

Approximately 11,000 affordable housing units (including federally-subsidized, tax credit, and public housing) were occupied and 9,000 vouchers in use before Katrina hit New Orleans. A year later, only about 2,300 affordable housing units are occupied and just 1,800 vouchers are in use, leaving nearly 16,000 families who previously had affordable housing in their city, or 80 percent, without (see Table 1 below).

While representing just 20 percent of the total rental housing stock, the affordable housing units lost in Katrina represent about 30 percent of destroyed or severely damaged rental housing. Even compared to other low-cost, but non-subsidized, rentals, affordable housing fared particularly poorly; although 53 percent of low-cost housing was severely damaged or destroyed (see Table 2 below), 80 percent of affordable housing experienced such damage. This includes 81 percent of public housing (HANO-owned), approximately 76 percent of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) housing, and 80 percent of project-based affordable housing. Among the project-based affordable housing, only one Section 202 senior development remained inhabited post-Katrina.

Multi-family housing is an important source of low-cost rental housing, especially with post-storm rises in construction costs. The city has issued 204 residential housing permits since the hurricane, 40 of which (20 percent) were for multi-family homes. In the New Orleans metropolitan area, only 288 of the 3,610 (8 percent) permits were for multi-family developments. Even during the three months before Katrina, however, only 31 of 194 (16 percent) permits in New Orleans and 164 of 1,677 (10 percent) permits in the metro area were for multi-family developments. While the 2007 allocation of Low Income Housing Tax Credits should fund significant new multifamily developments, the historically low level of multi-family housing production will continue to limit the amount of rental and affordable housing built.

Table 1: New Orleans Affordable Housing
	Public Housing	Housing Vouchers	Project-Based Section 8	LIHTC	Total
Units pre-Katrina	5,146	8,981	4,122	1,609	19,858
Units destroyed or damaged	4,144	7,166	3,314	1,223	15,847
Units remaining post-Katrina	1,002	1,815	808	386	4,094
Percentage destroyed or damaged	81%	80%	80%	76%	80%
Percentage remaining	19%	20%	20%	24%	20%

Table 2: New Orleans Rental Housing
	All Types of Damage (Minor, major, and severe damage)		Major and severe damage only
	Low-cost rentals	High-cost rentals	Low-cost rentals	High-cost rentals
Units pre-Katrina	86,520	14,205	86,520	14,205
Units destroyed or damaged	60,351	7,383	46,047	5,633
Units remaining post-Katrina	26,169	6,822	40,473	8,572
Percentage destroyed or damaged	70%	52%	53%	40%
Percentage remaining	30%	48%	47%	60%

Mapping City’s Development Trends

Map of private residential developments (pdf) granted approval as of September 2006 by the New Orleans City Council since Hurricane Katrina with a corresponding spreadsheet about the projects, developers, costs, and variances granted. These chart market rate, primarily luxury multi-family developments.
Two maps showing the number and distribution of affordable housing units pre-Katrina according to the type of housing subsidy used (e.g. project based Section 8, HANO properties, and Low Income Housing Tax Credits). The maps show that most subsidized units Pre-Katrina were located in high poverty areas with a high population of African Americans. View maps by African-American Population (pdf) or Population below Poverty Line (pdf).
Two maps showing the occupancy of all affordable housing units as of August 2006. The maps also show where units were located – in areas of concentrated poverty and in areas with a high population of African Americans. View maps by African-American Population (pdf) or Population below Poverty Line (pdf)
Two maps highlighting where projects receiving 2006-8 GO ZONE low-income housing tax credits will be located in New Orleans. View maps by all allocated projects (pdf) and projects that have broken ground as of August 2007 (pdf) . PolicyLink will continue to provide policy analysis, map development trends, convene local partners, and provide equitable development training to a broad spectrum of stakeholders to build more public awareness and will for equitable development and racial inclusion throughout the recovery.

PolicyLink will continue to provide policy analysis, map development trends, convene local partners, and provide equitable development training to a broad spectrum of stakeholders to build more public awareness and will for equitable development and racial inclusion throughout the recovery.