PRC launches grant program to preserve historic houses in Tremé
18th November 2019 · 0 Comments
By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer
At a November 14 press conference, New Orleans-based nonprofit Preservation Resource Center announced the start of a new program to preserve affordable housing in the Tremé.
With plans to expand to historic neighborhoods across the city within a year, the organization launched its new Revival Grants program to assist low- to moderate-income homeowners with exterior repairs to their homes following the receipt of citations from the city’s Historic District Landmarks Commission. Funding for the initiative comes in part from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a recently established federal funding source that also supports the preservation of Nina Simone’s home in North Carolina as well as the Southside Art Center in Chicago, among other projects.
“The Tremé is an important part of the history of the United States, as the country’s oldest African-American neighborhood,” said Paul Edmonson, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, during the press conference held at Backatown Coffee Parlour on Basin Street. “We know this neighborhood holds the roots of jazz, amazing cuisine, and Creole culture, and we are so proud to be supporting this needed program.”
Preservation Resource Center developed the Revival Grants program to “keep generational wealth in the neighborhood,” said Executive Director Danielle Del Sol. “We changed our mission statement last year to go beyond caring about a neighborhood’s architecture, because we also care about maintaining a neighborhood’s cultural identity, through collaboration and empowerment. This program is really an embodiment of that change in our mission and an effort to help people keep their homes and pass them on to future generations.”
New Orleans’ Historic District Landmarks Commission issues fines and citations based on guidelines that govern historic districts. Facades, and occasionally backs and sides, of historic homes must remain in compliance to avoid being penalized. While the city typically does not charge interest on fines or aggressively pursue amounts owed, “it’s still an emotional burden on homeowners,” Del Sol said, “because they know their home has been cited for being insufficient.”
Councilwoman Kristen Palmer also attended the event, noting the changes she has seen in the Tremé since her time repairing houses with the Preservation Resource Center in the 1990s.
“Revitalizing a neighborhood should not lead to gentrification,” Palmer said, “Tremé is the poster child for what we have seen across the city. Twenty-five years ago it was a different place, and you could feel it on the streets. Children were playing, and people were on the stoops, and now we don’t feel that. We have to make sure people can stay.”
The Revival Grants program will be open to homeowners in the Tremé with 80 percent average median income or below, which varies depending on the number of people living in the home but is around $36,000 per year for one person. Participants can only own one home, and have been previously cited for violations by the Historic District Landmark Commission.
“We are hoping to cap each project at around $10,000,” Del Sol said, which sounds like a modest amount, but we really think we can help a lot of people. “We are vetting home owners right now and have three people we plan to start with in December.”
Many of the repairs homeowners need to come into compliance are considered superficial, which makes grant funding and support scarce.
“We have one woman with antique sixteen feet tall wooden shutters. She can’t afford the people who are trained to repair something like that, and we want to help. The people in this neighborhood are so proud to be from here, and they see the change, and they want to be a part of it, not left behind,” said Del Sol.
The president of Tremé’s neighborhood association, Daryl Durham, also attended the launch, emphasizing the importance of the Tremé and its history to New Orleans’ and the country. “When you walk down the street here you can’t help but either running into a cultural institution or a culture bearer,” he said. “I can’t think of a better neighborhood to start this in, and I hope we can provide guidance to the rest of the city in the future.”
The mayor’s office has also expressed strong support for the project, offering $20,000 to support the program’s planned expansion into other historic neighborhoods, including Holy Cross and the Lower Garden District.
“We have to deal with issues of balance between investing in a neighborhood and making sure people can stay sustainably, while also having clear and consistent application of the rules,” said John Pourciau, Mayor Latoya Cantrell’s Chief of Staff. “We want to maintain historic integrity and also create solutions to help multigenerational homeowners like this program. We are looking forward to seeing it expand city-wide.”
This article originally published in the November 18, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
