People’s Housing+ was established to provide greater scale and impact with a focus on advancing racial equity in community development through the strategic merger of three New Orleans-based community development corporations: Crescent City Community Land Trust, Home By Hand and Tulane Canal Neighborhood Development Corporation. The organization has completed more than 270 homes, including the adaptive reuse of the 100-year-old historic firehouse on Louisiana Avenue in Central City. The project created seven permanently affordable rental housing units upstairs and a 65-seat early childhood development center downstairs.
What are you most excited about in the coming year?
There is a lot on the horizon to be excited about. We have been developing a new housing model called “Double-Down,” which we view as the return of the affordable owner-occupied double in New Orleans. The model takes advantage of the city’s small multi-family affordable zoning ordinance, which allows for the development of up to four units of housing, in two buildings on a single parcel. Utilizing the Community Land Trust structure, “Double-Down” will create two affordable ownership opportunities, each with affordable rental units, providing a secondary income source for the owners. We are also excited for the launch of the city’s housing trust fund. The trust will dedicate 2% of the annual budget to the preservation of existing housing and the creation of new affordable rental and homeownership opportunities. The importance of this perpetual funding source for an organization like ours cannot be overstated. Lastly, I am very excited about the expanding suite of stewardship resources we can provide our community. Over the past 18 months, we have provided more than 200 free wills and completed 19 successions and retrofitted 110 homes with new FORTIFIED Roofs. We have served thousands of residents through our financial literacy programming, and we are preparing to roll out an emergency micro-loan fund for our homeowners.
What is the biggest challenge facing your industry today, and is anything being done about it?
Access to consistent, reliable funding is a persistent issue. As development costs continue to rise, so does the affordability gap. Stagnant inflation, rising interest rates and insurance costs make it harder for working-class New Orleanians to afford quality housing. Paramount to our industry is the importance of building to the highest energy efficiency and storm mitigation standards. The recent adoption by municipalities and developers of the FORTIFIED® standards has been providing immediate relief to both homeowners and renters by way of decreased insurance costs. We work every day to find innovative ways to mitigate costs while continuing to build to the highest standards.
