HUD in NOLA

This past week I have been helping an attorney at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services with a project in the housing department. This week we took in five clients that live in a Housing and Urban Development project under section 8 housing. The main issue is that there is not enough housing for the returning citizenry, and the housing that is available has risen above the levels that many were used to pre-katrina due to sky-rocketing insurance premiums and the delayed access to funds to allow the re-building of low-priced homes. The main way that low income project developments are funded is through tax credits, and the largest push for these developments after Katrina was focused on elderly complexes since they were the poriton of the community hit the hardest during the hurricane due to their relatively weaker immune systems and immobility. Therefor, the amount of developments for low-income families, which mainly consists of single mothers are few and far between.

The five clients that we took in this week all live in a housing development that is falling apart. One single mother, with five children under 7, lives in an apartment with no heart or AC, sewage coming out of the sink, and walls separating from the flooring. Others complain of extensive termite damage, broken windows, and snakes, vermin and cockroach infestation. Our clients are young mothers with young children, with little to no income. They have no money to move, and there are few jobs or childcare to remedy the situation due mainly to the fact that many businesses did not return to the area, even while the people stayed and returned. Even many fast-food chains refused to return. Only one taco bell remains, and you can find Chinese restaurants taking over the old purple and green taco bell buildings.

We are trying to find a way to force the sale of the development. The owner is bankrupt and has no money to do the extensive renovations needed on the building. But if the building is sold, the tenants may be kicked out with no place to go, and the building rebuilt into housing that will out price those most in need. Through a special process of Transfer of Physical Assets the sale would be contingent on the purchaser renovating the building while preserving it for the tenants. The low-income residents of Louisiana cannot afford to lose even a dilapidated housing structure.