In New Orleans, the cost of housing remains high for low-wage workers, a struggle that is happening throughout the country. Newell spoke with Andreanecia Morris, Executive Director of Housing NOLA, about a new report put out by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
“You and I have talked about this since I've been on the radio. Now I don't know about you, but I haven't seen an appreciable change in the strategies that we are deploying here locally in trying to address this situation from a government standpoint,” Newell started.
Morris pointed out, “We had commitments from local leaders to do things differently, and instead of honoring those commitments, things have taken way longer. We've seen some progress, but it's not enough, and it's not moving nearly fast enough. About two weeks ago, after about five years, we finally implemented the Smart Housing Mix New Orleans, where we're going to mandate affordable housing. The big key around that is we're going to make sure that they have the incentives, they have the support, and that it's clear to people who want to develop affordable housing, because they are developers who want to do this, but how they can get the resources without it being a political game, where it's not who you know that determines whether or not you get the incentives. You get the resources necessary to create an affordable housing development, so it doesn't take seven years to build a couple hundred units. This is all taking too long and we're not being creative enough. We're not being innovative enough and we're not being focused enough.”
“This goes back decades.
When you talk about who you know, if the personality of the developer didn't particularly align with the personality of the mayor at that point in time, you really didn't get your project approved, did you?” Newell asked
“That's why this was so important for us to make sure of that, and that we couldn't just give incentives to people who weren't meeting the basic needs in New Orleans. If you want to build a for-profit, luxury project, don't come and ask for government help with that. When we have basic needs not being met by the people who make the city go, don't come and ask for those people's resources to just make money for yourself. That doesn't make any sense. And that's what was happening. that's been going on for a while.” Morris replied.
Hear the entire interview in the audio player below.
https://omny.fm/shows/newell-normand/u-s-struggles-to-produce-affordable-housing-and-hi
