New Orleans' Affordable Housing Crisis By The Numbers

It’s no secret that New Orleans has an affordable housing crisis. On Monday, a report released by HousingNOLA illustrates just how concerning the situation is.

According to the semi-annual report, New Orleans needs to create 33,593 affordable housing opportunities by 2025 in order to serve the needs of residents. In 2015, city and state housing agencies pledged to create 7,500 opportunities within five years – or 1,500 per year.

In the first year, New Orleans was close to meeting that goal, creating 1,439 new affordable housing opportunities. However, in the second year, only 488 were created, and in 2018, 129 affordable housing opportunities were lost. So far this year, only 84 new affordable housing opportunities have been created – leaving the city 5,618 short of its goal.

HousingNOLA’s Community Development Finance plan is joining the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance in recommending a set of initiatives to help facilitate further affordable housing development:

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The New Orleans City Council must quickly conclude the next steps to finalize the Smart Housing Mix and the revisions to the Short Term Rental policies—those plans include revises short term rental regulations so they generate $20 million per year in new revenue for affordable housing.
The Louisiana State Legislature must pass and defeat bills that divert short-term rental funding away from affordable housing and ignore the need of struggling homeowners struggling with taxes and the renters in SRPP properties whose landlords are coming to the end of their commitment.
Local community development finance institutions must secure additional investment from traditional banks who need to meet Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements and deploy those increased resources to CDCs and small developers.

“It’s imperative that we take in this data and embrace the clarity that it provides,” HousingNOLA Executive Director Andreanecia M. Morris said. “It is clear that we need additional resources as recent reports around homelessness and population decline indicate that New Orleans is headed for a man-made disaster.”

Jenn Bentley is a writer and editor originally from Cadiz, Kentucky. Her writing has been featured in publications such as The Examiner, The High Tech Society, FansShare, Yahoo News, and others. When she’s not writing or editing, Jenn spends her time raising money for Extra Life and advocating for autism awareness.