NEW ORLEANS – The new Board of Directors of the Central City Housing Development Corporation (CCHDC) has named urban and community development specialist, Dr. Eric Anthony Johnson its new Administrator, effective Feb. 1. Founded in 1968, CCHDC is a community development corporation that develops and manages properties in New Orleans' Central City for the elderly, low-income and the disabled. The nonprofit is currently under review from the federal government for what it said effectively amounts to years of deferred maintenance at the Satchmo Plaza housing complex. An audit last July by the Office of the Inspector General at HUD found dozens of maintenance issues at Satchmo Plaza, one of the organization's signature properties built in 1981. The government is threatening further action and pushing the CCHDC for a strategy which mitigates current findings and a plan for long-term redevelopment. Working with the new Board of Directors and the community, Johnson said he believes the organization can address the findings and begin to implement an aggressive development plan as early as the summer and is hoping their efforts will buy the organization some time to retool.
A native of New Orleans, Johnson's education and experience appear to make him a perfect fit for the job, corporation reps said. Called, "a natural problem solver" by friends and colleagues, Johnson is a recognized expert in urban redevelopment. His early years were spent as a community development organizer, forming development corporations in neighborhoods around the city. Johnson has spent time as a Presidential Management Fellow and Community Development Specialist with HUD Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He learned the value of community responsibility as legislative aide for Councilman Jim Singleton, which he said "offered me my first look at the workings of city government, community development and how local policy is developed and implemented." Since completing his education, Johnson has spent his career working on transformative urban development projects in cities around the U.S.
Johnson is a life-long learner, corporation reps said. He holds a doctorate degree in urban affairs and public policy, as well as a master's in public administration. He is also an alumnus of the Harvard Graduate School Design AMDP in real estate development and a graduate of several Harvard University executive programs in public trust leadership and management development. Johnson has taught courses in community and economic development, finance, public policy, urban politics and public budgeting at the university level.
Johnson said the focus will be on accelerating the retooling of the CCHDC by creating a 90-day action plan that emphasizes repositioning the organization so that it can continue to further its mission of creating and ensuring affordable housing in Central City. "Make no mistake about it, this is tough work and we will need to accelerate our efforts to reach the end game of providing safe, decent and quality affordable housing at a time when the city is experiencing an unprecedented need for affordable housing," Johnson said. He said priorities include working to address any maintenance issues on an interim basis at Satchmo Plaza with the intent of ultimately creating a development plan for the site "with input and guidance from the residents and stakeholders of Central City." Johnson said he will also use the next 12 months to stabilize the organization's other assets and operations. "At this time we ask the community to bear with us as we undergo this transformation,” he said. “We need your support and partnership to further the creation of quality affordable housing in Central City."
