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Two new affordable housing developments are coming online in New Orleans, addressing a critical shortage that has long vexed community leaders. It’s a complex problem without an easy answer, according to The Times-Picayune Power Poll, which found key influencers divided on the solution.
What’s the best way to solve New Orleans’ affordable housing crisis?
- Increase the local minimum wage – 26%
- Buy a free market – 23%
- Give more tax breaks to developers – 21%
- Other / Uncertain – 18%
- Build more public housing – 13%
Asali Mekebb, CEO of Ashe Cultural Arts Center, said the issue is not only economic but also a matter of attitude.
“The only way to fix the affordable housing crisis is to have the political will to see housing as a right and to enact legislation,” McCabe said. “The market will always exploit the poor and make the middle class less secure. That’s how the rules of the game are set up. If the rich, well-connected and politically savvy white people of San Francisco lose their city to Uber. The rest of us don’t stand a chance against displacement.”
The Pythian Building on Loyola Street in New Orleans was renovated in 2017 with the help of the New Markets Tax Credit Program.
As for the nuts, Tony Gelderman of KCT Real Estate Ventures, which redevelops historic properties, says some tax breaks aren’t as lucrative as they seem.
“The cost of matching the low-income tax system meets or exceeds the benefits. …” In the new market tax credit program, for example, “a large part of the value of the credits goes to lawyers. And bankers, and therefore the benefits do not go into housing, unfortunately, the racket It’s something.”
But public money may not even be needed, said Byron LeBlanc, president of public relations for LeBlanc & Schuster. He cited PadSplit, which started in Atlanta in 2017 to convert underutilized housing into co-working space.
“Government support through favorable zoning and allowing this type of creative solution would be a step in the right direction,” LeBlanc said.
Conducted online Tuesday through Thursday, The Times-Picayune Power Poll is not a scientific poll. But as it asks questions of top Jefferson and Orleans influencers on business, politics, the arts, media, nonprofits and community issues, it offers nonpartisan insights into the ideas and opinions of those who lead the region. Of the 680 Power Poll members surveyed this week, 112 voted, for a 16.5% participation rate.
Low unemployment
Power Poll members were asked about the job market in the context of Louisiana, which hit a low unemployment rate of 3.8 percent this summer.
How is your experience finding and hiring good job candidates this year?
- Neither good nor bad – 47%
- nice – 25%
- poor – 15%
- absolutely impossible – 9%
- so good – 4%
Alison Player, chief demographer at the data center, said the unemployment numbers can be misleading.
“Louisiana still has 4.5% fewer jobs than when Covid-19 hit in February 2020. “Lower unemployment is because Louisianans are able to work — 30,000 fewer,” she said. “We know that many women are unable to work because many childcare options have closed and not reopened.” The long Covid has sidelined many, Player added.
Damage to water.
Finally, that flowing Bywater Blight:
What should New Orleans do with the long-contaminated F. Edward Hebert Defense Complex?
- Meet Jettison Joe Jaeger and another developer – 41%
- Demolish the buildings and sell the land – 30%
- Provide additional incentives to move the project along – 20%
- Uncertain/Other – 5%
- Be patient with Jagger – 4%
The Times-Picayune Power Poll is a partnership between a New Orleans daily newspaper and powerpoll.com, a nonpartisan survey, news and information company focused on the opinions of influential people. Powerpoll.com is based on surveys of Nashville, Tennessee and 29 metropolitan markets.
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