A Great Place to Call Home

The Evangeline courtyard

The year was 1959 - the Boston Celtics won the NBA championship, Barbie dolls went on sale for the first time, and Rawhide premiered on television. It was also the year that the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program was authorized by Congress. The first developer to take advantage of this program was not a Trump-like developer from New York City or a progressive thinker from the west coast, but an unassuming, hard working man with vision from the small southern town of Shreveport, LA.

N. O. Thomas, Jr. was already an active developer. In the late 1950's he built the first high-rise office building and the first townhouses in Shreveport. Mr. Thomas saw a need for elderly assisted housing because of the needs of his mother and many older friends who did not need nursing home care, but a place they could continue to live independently, with just a little assistance. Shortly after the authorization of the Section 202 legislation he developed The Evangeline. This beautiful 62-unit, garden-style development, was not only the first housing constructed in Shreveport for the elderly but was also the first development in the nation to close under the Section 202 program.

While amended several times since its inception in 1959, HUD's 202 program is the Department's primary program for providing rental housing for very low-income individuals age 62 or older. Capital advances to private, nonprofit corporations or nonprofit consumer cooperatives finance the construction, rehabilitation, or acquisition of properties. Project sponsors are required to make available supportive services that may include meals and nutritional services, housekeeping aid, personal assistance, and transportation.

Residents at anniversary celebration

50th Anniversary Cake

The Evangeline recently celebrated the 50th birthday of the program that made this development possible. Nestled among a grove of large oak trees in the heart of Shreveport, The Evangeline is still providing affordable housing and a family feel for its residents. This property, along with 8,000 other Section 202 developments, stands as a testament to the success of a program that now houses 263,000 households. Just ask any resident at The Evangeline, and they will tell you - it's a great place to call home.