The City of New Orleans, originally settled in 1718, reflects the cultural diversity of the people from Africa, Spain, France, Canada and Central America who settled there. The City's music and culinary delights have captured the essence of each of these cultures resulting in a "gumbo" of sound and flavor. For the past twenty years, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has reflected this diversity of taste and sound. Mardi Gras is known worldwide as the spirit of this unique City. The twelve day event which consists of parades, balls and revelry, attracts over a million people each year. The City is also known for its historic landmarks and 17 federal historic districts.
The Consolidated Plan presents a strategic vision for revitalizing the City's target areas. It includes a One-Year Action Plan for spending approximately $21,147,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds, $6,224,000 in HOME funds, $1,282,000 in Housing Opportunity for People with AIDS funds and $741,000 in Emergency Shelter Grant funds.
The City of New Orleans encouraged the general public, as well as, representatives from the private and nonprofit sectors to participate in the development of the Consolidated Plan. Input was gathered from a variety of groups such as the Citizens Advisory Task Force. The City's Division of Housing and Neighborhood Development (DHND) sponsored and/or attended various community meetings throughout the year and provided technical assistance to individuals and organizations upon request. Special efforts were taken to encourage participation of non-English speaking persons and neighborhood residents with disabilities. A Public Housing Liaison was also established to ensure participation by public housing resident councils and the Housing Authority of New Orleans.
Four public hearings were held over a two week period during the development
of the Consolidated Plan. These hearings were designed to address the strategies
and priorities for the Consolidate Plan. The required Official Public Notice
summarizing the Consolidated Plan and informing the public of the availability
of the document for review and comment was published in newspapers city-wide
beginning on December 15, 1994. The closing date for submission of written
comments was January 17, 1995. Local newspapers and radio stations also provided
Public Service Announcements.
New Orleans is the twenty-fourth largest American municipality with a
population of 496,938. The City is a racially and ethnically diverse community.
Recent trends in population change and migration have resulted in a population
with a racial composition that is 61% Black, 33% White, 3% Hispanic, 2% Asian,
and less than 1% Native American. In addition to a large African-American
population, significant ethnicities that are represented in the population
including the descendants of French and Spanish, Creoles, Germans, Italians,
Irish and most recently, Hispanics and Vietnamese.
The concentration of low-wage employment directly and indirectly related to the tourism industry had a direct effect on the viability of the City's neighborhoods. As large companies continue to down-size, small businesses are creating many of the new jobs. Therefore, the City has focused on small business retention and creation to address the high unemployment and poverty rates.
The City's poor economy, which caused many persons to leave the City, has also led to high unemployment rates among the remaining population. This in turn, has increased the number of mortgage foreclosures on owner-occupied homes.
Housing rehabilitation has been identified as a critical need and this priority is the cornerstone of the city's neighborhood revitalization efforts. The focus is on assisting low income persons maintain and repair their homes.
Suitable rental units are a scarce and demand for units is high. The City has a total of 123,233 renter units. Of that total, 86% are occupied. However, 50% of all renter units are classified as substandard. The City has 85,826 owner units, of which 96% are occupied. However, as with renter units, a large number of the owner occupied units are substandard. Additionally, many properties vacated by both renters and homeowners have become abandoned and vandalized. In some target areas, as many as 50% of the buildings are abandoned or vacant.
Of the City's 45,534 households, who are classified as having extremely low incomes (0 to 30% of the MSA Median Family Income), 76% are classified as having housing problems. In this same income category, the household classification having the greatest percentage of housing problems is the large related renter households. In this category, 92% of the households are reported as having housing problems.
There are 84,391 owner households in the City. Twenty-eight percent of the total owner households are experiencing housing problems and approximately 68% have incomes that are 80% or below the MSA Median Family Income. Forty-seven percent of the owner households experiencing housing problems are classified as being very low income.
The City estimates that 14% of the homeless population consist of families who need to be brought into the service system and stabilized. The parents and the children within these families require varying types of assistance which can be delivered based on individual assessments upon intake into the service system. For example, the parents may need job training and/or placement assistance, as well as child care services. The children may require nutritious meals, health care screening and education.
A local analysis of the needs of the homeless youth and adults revealed that the service system for providing assistance should be streamlined particularly in the areas of job education and job training and referrals. It is estimated that 20% of the City's homeless population are mentally ill and require medical treatment and basic life skills training.
A survey was conducted of all Public Housing developments in the City in order to get a snapshot of the demand for public housing. The data collected indicated a waiting list of 3,499 persons and a waiting period of one year.
The Authority of New Orleans has embarked upon an ambitious program of modernizing its conventional and scattered site housing developments and reducing the large number of vacant, substandard or uninhabitable units.
The City is reviewing the potential to waive or reduce zoning and building permit fees for renovation or in-fill development of new housing units in strategically targeted neighborhoods as part of an effort to stimulate development activities. There are high costs to rehabilitate abandoned and blighted properties within designated federal and local historic districts. In order to reduce these costs, the City revised the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance to make the administrative process more user-friendly and efficient.
There are no institutional policies that would negatively impact the development, operation and evaluation of programs or create barriers to affordable housing. In fact, the DHND and together with community based organizations continue to positively impact the cost of housing for low and moderate income citizens. To promote affordable housing, DHND provides training, workshops and literature to increase the public awareness of programs offered to revitalize the City's neighborhoods. In addition, DHND will continue to monitor and evaluate programs funded through the Division.
Recognizing the importance of fair housing, DHND established a Fair Housing Office which has the primary responsibility of affirmatively furthering fair housing for the City of New Orleans. Several actions have been taken such as the development of an educational program to inform citizens of their rights and an amendment to the City's fair housing ordinance to increase enforcement powers of the Fair Housing Office has been developed for approval by the City Council. The City will continue to work with nonprofits and for-profits to encourage the development of decent, low and moderate- income housing. Inadequate access to capital has been identified as a major obstacle to decent housing. DHND and the lending community have been working together to develop additional programs and services to address this obstacle.
Throughout the U.S., some groups and individuals such as the homeless, mentally and physically challenged and substance abusers are discouraged and/or prohibited from residing in various residential areas (Not-In Backyard Syndrome). The City is conducting a study of the use of the Section 8 Housing Program to determine the housing availability for Section 8 residents.
Approximately 90% of the City's 256,573 housing units were built prior to the lead-based ban in 1978. In fact, 33% of the City's total housing stock was built prior to 1940. It is known that structures built prior to the ban have the highest incident of lead-based paint. Therefore, it is likely that lead-based paint hazards exist in a large portion of the City's housing stock.
Central City, Inner Marigny and Esplanade Ridge have been identified as areas with the greatest need for lead paint abatement. DHND has identified three major objectives to reduce lead-based paint hazards: (1) increase the number of lead-based paint units brought into compliance; (2) educate the community on lead hazards; (3) develop a tracking system to record and respond to reported lead-based paint hazards.
Parks and recreation facilities were ranked as a high priority need by neighborhood residents attending the public hearings. They assigned a high priority to the street improvements and solid waste disposal improvements. Flood drain improvements and sidewalk improvements were ranked as medium priorities.
Senior services were assigned a high priority and handicapped services were assigned a medium priority. It should be noted that Louisiana has the largest population of people with Usher's Syndrome, which causes a person to become both deaf and blind. Supportive living environments that provide independent and individual control and choice is nationally recognized as the most appropriate for these special needs populations.
The need for numerous programs for young people was expressed at public hearings and youth services were assigned a high priority. Life skills training, teen pregnancy prevention and cultural enrichment are important for increased community involvement and the development of neighborhood pride. Citizens requested increased funding for the New Orleans Recreation Department to provide more playgrounds and programs for children. Organized sports have been cited as a weapon in the prevention of crime. The City will also work with the Orleans Parish School Board to develop programs that will assist and complement the City's school system. Drug and alcohol abuse prevention is one of the City's topsocial service needs and was assigned a medium priority.
The development of micro-businesses and employment training were assigned a high priority. Efforts are underway to create a contract loan and bonding program for micro-businesses and small business management and information seminars have been conducted. Child care services were also assigned a high priority and the general consensus is that these services should contain an early childhood education component and be more than a baby sitting service.
The Division of Housing and Neighborhood Development (DHND) was responsible
for coordinating the development of the Plan. To accomplish this task, DHND
established and utilized three long term Task Forces, the City Government Task
Force, the Partnerships Task Force and the Citizens Advisory Task Force.
The City's vision is to maximize limited resources by re-inventing program operations and re-engineering delivery systems in order to affirmatively further "neighborhood", "balance", " restoration" and "human scale".
The City's approach is to empower neighborhoods to take a leadership role in identifying problems, designing solutions and implementing programs and projects. Activities will be targeted to the most severely distressed areas. The City will focus on the following priorities:
The City's strategy has two primary objectives. The first objective is to assist families and individuals living in poverty with addressing their basic needs. Over the next five years, the City will allocate resources to address basic needs such as food and shelter, reduce the number of families in poverty living in substandard housing, and increase the number of preventive health programs for the poor.
The second objective is to provide supportive services that will assist families and individuals in poverty to break the cycle of poverty and become self-sufficient. To accomplish this objective, the City will allocate resources to a variety of social service programs which will assist families and individuals improve their economic status. Economic development and education are the main components of this objective. The City hopes to increase the number of minority and disadvantaged businesses, increase the number of neighborhood residents employed in housing and community development projects within their neighborhoods and assist in the development of viable education/job training programs.
There are a variety of resources available for carrying out the City's revitalization strategy as listed below:
Intergovernmental coordination at all levels is viewed as an integral
component of the City's efforts. The City Government Task Force will ensure
coordination of resources among City departments. An on-going relationship has
been established with public and private sector agencies, organizations and
individuals.
(1) Target comprehensive affordable housing and supportive service programs to benefit very low income (0-50% of median) single-parent families and homeless families with children and promote the integration of housing child care, transportation, education, employment and community economic development initiatives in the delivery of those services.
(2) Increase the supply of accessible, least-restrictive living opportunities with integrated support services for needy households and persons with special needs, such as, low income elderly and physically and mentally challenged persons through rehabilitation and/or reconstruction of substandard and modification of inaccessible homes by incorporation of "universal design" (adaptable housing) components into all affordable housing projects.
(3) Alleviate shortages of decent, affordable housing units for rental or purchase by low and very-low income households, by providing three and four-bedroom units for large and extended family households, through rehabilitation of structurally sound housing units to housing quality and energy-efficiency standards; reconstruction/one-for-one replacement of substandard units which are not suitable for rehabilitation; and new construction of modest, energy-efficient, low maintenance, single family and low-density multi-family dwellings.
(4) Increase home ownership opportunities among first-time low, moderate and middle-income home buyers through a combination of financing assistance and pre-purchase education.
The City of New Orleans has developed two strategies to implement the Consolidated Plan:
(1) Citywide Neighborhood Strategy (CNS) will be lead by community based organizations (CBO's). The CNS will be initiated by a Request for Proposals. The Division of Housing & Neighborhood issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) which lists Consolidated Plan priorities and eligible activities to address these priorities. Consolidated Plan Formula Funds are included in the NOFA. The following projects will be undertaken:
CNS empowers community based organizations to assess, develop, and implement programs which address their neighborhoods' needs.
(2) Impact Neighborhood Strategy (INS) areas are selected form Enterprise Community Tracts. INS are small, well-defined areas. The focus of the strategy is the establishment of Public/private partnership between the City and financial institutions.
MAP 2 depicts points of interest and low-moderate income areas.
MAP 3 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and minority concentration levels.
MAP 4 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, and unemployment levels.
MAP 5 depicts points of interest, low-moderate income areas, unemployment levels, and proposed HUD funded projects.
Taras White
Bureau Chief
(504) 827-3372
