NO Projects
18.4.11
NO Projects
The History of Housing Projects
United States Housing Act
In the depths of the Great Depression, many families became homeless and many others were at risk of homelessness. Nationwide, there was great concern about this situation, which led to the passage of the United States Housing Act of 1937. The Housing Act, also known as the Wagner Bill, instituted the United States Housing Authority within the Department of the Interior. Its mission was to provide public housing for low-income families. The Housing Authority was to contract with local housing officials to construct dwellings. In 1937, New Orleans became the first city in the United States to benefit under the Wagner Act.
HUD
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 was created as a cabinet level agency. The HUD’s mission is to provide a decent, safe, and sanitary home and sustainable living environment for every American by creating opportunities for ownership; providing assistance for low-income persons; working to create, rehabilitate, and maintain the nation’s affordable housing; enforcing the nation’sfair housing laws; helping the homeless; spurring economic growth in distressed neighborhoods; and helping local communities meet their development needs.
Ensuring environmental justice is a priority of HUD’s mission. HUD promotes environmental quality in public housing, federally-assisted rental housing, and homeownership programs to ensure that low-income and minority families and individuals will have safe and healthy start in order to achieve greater self-sufficiency and independence. HUD strives to support sound environmental considerations in community development and housing policies that, at the same time, will preserve housing affordability and encourage rural and urban economic growth and private sector
investment.
HOPE VI
The HOPE VI Program began in 1992, it was developed as a result of recommendations by National Commission on Severely Distressed Public Housing, which was charged with proposing a National Action Plan to eradicate severely distressed public housing. The Commission recommended revitalization in three general areas: physical improvements, management improvements, and social and community services to address resident needs.
This program was the program that began the change from public housing projects to mixed income housing developments. New Orleans received grants from this program to convert two projects (Desire and St. Thomas) years before the storm. It continued on this path after the storm, receiving grants from this program for all 6 of the projects under redevelopment. Moreover, using the health and safety policies of this program as reason for redevelopment.
Get to Know the Projects
The Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), Providence Community Housing – the Catholic post-Katrina initiative, and Enterprise Community Partners have formed an alliance to plan the redevelopment of the B.W. Cooper site into a Mixed Income Development.(2)
The Desire Development was built in 1949 in New Orleans' 9th Ward, and compared to the city's other housing projects, was oddly isolated; bordered by railroad tracks on two sides and canals on the others, it was a world of its own, with public elementary and high schools built along with the housing to serve the children who would live there.
The project was plagued almost since its opening by shoddy construction and poor upkeep, and was demolished in 1995, though ground wasn't broken for new buildings until 2002. The new development, renamed Abundance Square and redesigned on the HOPE IV mixed-income model, flooded heavily after Hurricane Katrina while still under construction. Residents finally began moving in in summer 2007.
According to HANO's website for the community the old Desire conventional public housing site, consisting of 1860 units, was demolished before Hurricane Katrina. When the storm struck, Desire was in the process of being developed into a mixed income community of 425 rental and 100 homeownership units. Katrina destroyed 107 newly-constructed rental units that were already occupied as well as 318 rental units being constructed. Since the storm, 107 units have been rebuilt and occupied again and 160 of the 318 units that were under construction have been rebuilt and occupied. The last 160 units are currently under construction, fulfilling the pre-Katrina plan for 425 rental units on the site. (3)
The Estates are being revitalized with a mix of housing types and the infusion of families with mixed incomes throughout the neighborhood. Of the 425 rental housing units, 67% are designated for families served by the public housing assistance program and 33% of the units include tax credit and Project Based Housing Choice Voucher units. (3)
Even when the construction is complete there will only be 425 units, a severe drop off from the original 1860 units. Moreover, only 67% will be public housing units, meaning there will only be 285 units open to those who receive public housing; leaving 1,585 still needing to be replaced.
The William J. Guste community is located in New Orleans’ Central City, between the central business district and the renowned historic Garden District. Built in 1964, the original 21-acre site consisted of one 12-story high-rise building with 528 housing units for the elderly and six low-rise buildings with 465 housing units for families, 993 total units. In 2002, the Guste High-Rise underwent comprehensive modernization. In July 2004, HANO demolished three of the six low-rise buildings, leaving only 228 units in the remaining three buildings. These units were to be demolished in subsequent phases of the Guste redevelopment project. (13)
A Master Plan for the Guste site was developed in 2004 that included a site plan with an open street grid, new streets and infrastructure, and 249 units of affordable housing. The plan also included the development of 150 offsite units and a new daycare center. (13)
In January 2005, HANO closed on the first phase of the Guste mixed-financed redevelopment, for the development of 82 low-income housing tax credit units, including 67 ACC and 15 Section 8 project-based units. This phase of construction was interrupted by Hurricane Katrina but was completed in February 2008. (13)
HANO planned to redevelop the balance of the Guste site in two additional phases immediately following the completion of Phase I. Due to the critical need to provide uninterrupted housing to residents post-Katrina, plans for further demolition of the Guste site have been delayed until adequate housing is available for the relocation of the families living in the existing units. Guste II, the next phase of new development, includes 16 new public housing units. (13)
Including the units still under construction there are still only 31 public housing units total, coming from 993 in its' original form, 962 public housing units are yet to be replaced.
During the many protests spurred by the announcement, St. Bernard residents and their supporters were particularly vocal, camping in a tent city outside the shuttered project.
Today, the Iberville is the only remaining original full-size housing development left in New Orleans. The 24-acre site is bound by Claiborne Avenue, Basin, Iberville and Conti Streets. According to HANO's page for the development, Iberville originally consisted of 858 units. Due to site reconfigurations, demolition and units being converted to non-residential uses, a total of 836 units existed at the time of Hurricane Katrina. As of July 2010 a total of 821 residential units remained at the site. Currently, about 447 units are occupied due to the renovations effort. Families on the public housing waiting list are being moved into these units, but many are still vacant.(7)
Phase I of the Lafitte Redevelopment will include the construction of 812 residential rental units and for-sale homes, 517 of which will be located on the existing site. The homes onsite will include a 100-unit senior apartment building, 276 affordable rental apartments and 141 homes for sale. Many of the for-sale homes will be affordable to families earning 80% or less of area median income. The scattered site program will create an additional 295 rental units and for sale homes in the adjacent communities. The first of these homes, the Edmundites Homes are 10 wood-frame houses originally built in the early 20th century and these homes were completed in January 2009. (8)
The Providence Community Housing Organization claims that they will ensure absolute opportunity for the 865 families and individuals who lived in the Lafitte development before Katrina to return to better quality homes and a healthier neighborhood, however, if the units are renting at market prices, or even affordable rent, they are still out of reach for those who receive public housing.
The St. Thomas project was redeveloped in multiple stages. Construction Site (CS) I rental, the first phase of the St. Thomas Redevelopment Plan, closed in November 2003 and was completed in July 2005. It includes 296 rental units, with 122 public housing units and 174 market rate units that have been successfully leased. River Garden Homeownership includes 15 affordable and 23 market rate homeownership units that were completed in December 2008. Another 35 market rate units will be completed upon market demand. River Garden Historic includes 37 affordable rental units developed by the end of December 2007 in five historic buildings that were preserved on the site. River Garden Elderly includes 57 new project Based Section 8 units also completed in December 2007. Construction Site II, (CS II), the last phase of onsite rental units, includes 310 rental units, of which 60 are ACC units, 64 Tax Credit units and 186 are Market Rate units. These were completed in December 2009.(9)
That makes 1,379 units total, 122 of which are public housing. In contrast to the 1,429 units in St. Thomas back in 2000 leaves 1,307 units that were not replaced during redevelopment.
The BIG Number
When all the stats are added up the number of units missing is astonishing. Because the BW Cooper and Lafitte apartments are still undergoing redevelopment, their numbers are not included in this sum total. The Iberville numbers are also not included because their redevelopment plans are still underway.
The numbers available are 1,210 units missing from Magnolia, 1,585 from Desire, 694 from Florida, 962 from Melpomene, 5,589 from St. Bernard, and 1,379 from St. Thomas. Together that is 11,419 public housing units that have not been replaced, and have no plans for replacement since the HOPE VI Program.