HousingNOLA report card gives New Orleans a “F” for housing affordability

24th October 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer

For the third straight year, HousingNOLA awarded New Orleans an “F” on its report card for housing affordability.

HousingNOLA is a 10-year partnership between community leaders, and dozens of public, private and nonprofit organizations working to solve the Crescent City’s affordable housing problems. Their annual report card grades the progress of their 10-Year-Plan. The report examines whether elected officials, lenders, developers and state housing agencies have delivered on commitments to provide affordable housing. The 10-Year-Plan was developed in 2015.

Seven years into the plan, the city received another “F” grade.

“This should be a cause for alarm,” said Andreanecia Morris, executive director of HousingNOLA. “Housing is at the root of a myriad of problems our city is currently facing…Slowly but surely, the affordable housing crisis is strangling our city.”

Last year’s Hurricane Ida played a significant role in reducing the amount of affordable housing in New Orleans. According to the report card, over 20,000 homeowners suffered moderate or worse damage during Hurricane Ida. Over 22,000 renters experienced moderate or worse damage due to Ida.

Aside from damage costs due to Ida, rising utility costs have also made it harder for New Orleanians to afford housing.

Another disturbing trend in the report card was that median rent in New Orleans rose to $1,082 since 2019 while the median income in the city decreased by close to $4,000 in that same time period. Sixty-three percent of renters and 30 percent of homeowners are cost-burdened, which means they are paying over 30 percent of their income toward housing.

HousingNOLA called on the city to implement a variety of policies, including ending income discrimination and supporting HANO in efforts to find landlords for voucher holders. Office of Juvenile Justice confirmed Thursday.

They also recommended the city find ways to support vulnerable populations that cannot be aided by COVID-19 funding. These populations include essential workers making minimum wage, households on fixed incomes, the homeless, and the formerly incarcerated. HousingNOLA also called on the city to remove all zoning barriers to sustainable and equitable neighborhoods.

Other calls for action in the report card included preserving over 13,000 expiring affordable housing units and building 44,000 resilient and affordable homes to bring people back to New Orleans, with a particular focus on people who were pushed out of the city due to rising prices or disasters.

Morris strongly criticized the city government’s lack of action on affordable housing.

“We can no longer allow our leaders to be distracted,” Morris said. “We need to hold them accountable.”

Morris said the city should take advantage of blighted or abandoned property to create affordable housing. She said New Orleans has more room to create new affordable housing than other cities with housing issues like New York City and San Francisco.

While the overall news was bad, HousingNOLA did see a few bright spots. The Healthy Homes Ordinance was introduced at the end of September. This ordinance aims to ensure that all rental units meet a minimum standard of health and safety.

The Louisiana legislature also made evicting renters after a hurricane illegal and launched a pilot program that could result in lower wind and hail insurance premiums if implemented properly. Building standards have also been improved to make homes safer and more resilient.

However, Morris is quick to emphasize that these bright spots are the exception, not the rule, in the current state of affordable housing in New Orleans. She also noted that people should not assume three “F” grades in a row on HousingNOLA report cards means the situation is stable. Just as a student may fail a test with a 55, then follow it with a 45 and a 35 on their next two tests, the city is doing worse with each successive “F” grade.

“It’s only going to get worse,” Morris said. “We have not hit rock bottom yet. This can and will get worse.”

Requests to the City of New Orleans, Mayor Latoya Cantrell, and Councilmember Helena Moreno for comment went unreturned as of press time.

This article originally published in the October 24, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.