Morris said the administration could have done more to champion the fund, which can be put toward affordable housing development. The city put $5.4 million toward H3C, “leveraged through state and federal dollars,” according to a press release.īut Morris hasn’t been pleased with the administration’s overall track record on housing, pointing in particular to the loss of the city’s Neighborhood Housing Improvement Fund, which voters failed to renew during the December election. “Who we need to build for are the people we have pushed out of New Orleans,” Morris said.īut more investments and regulations are needed, especially around existing, vacant housing, which she said is often overpriced.Īffordable housing is a stated priority of Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration. HousingNOLA, an affordable housing advocacy group, estimated last month that New Orleans needs $37 billion to end the city’s affordable housing crisis.Īndreanecia Morris, executive director of HousingNOLA, said GCHP is a partner of the group and that H3C is a step in the right direction: developments like it create new, affordable units that can retain residents in the neighborhood or even attract people who have been displaced from the city. According to a 2018 analysis by the Data Center, 36% of renters in Orleans Parish were severely cost-burdened, meaning they were paying more than half of their pre-tax household income on rent and utilities. The majority of New Orleans households rent, and many are stretched thin. Over the last five years, fair market rent in the metro area - the annual estimated amount a two-bedroom unit typically rents for, including utilities - has increased by about 13%, from $964 in 2017 to $1,089 in 2022.
WWNO A brass band plays at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new affordable housing and healthcare complex in Central City.Īlong with many cities nationwide, New Orleans is facing an increasing affordable housing crisis. “We hope that the insurers are more likely to invest in affordable housing because they know in the long run that it’s cost effective for their own business models,” said Kathy Laborde, GCHP President and CEO. Insurance company Aetna is one of the major funders of the project.
Along with a similar development in Jackson, Mississippi, the goal is to show health insurers that onsite, accessible care improves health outcomes at a lower cost - and that insurers should put money toward affordable housing. But this is the first time a project of theirs will have a built-in clinic.
The Gulf Coast Housing Partnership (GCHP), one of the lead developers on the project - along with Alembic Community Development - has worked with local healthcare providers like Odyssey House and Crescent Care in the past. And it will boast something unusual for an affordable housing complex: a wraparound health clinic onsite, run by DePaul Community Health Centers. The development will have 192 rental units, about half of which will be reserved for seniors ages 55 and up. But soon, it will become an affordable housing complex intended to provide accessible healthcare.Īt a groundbreaking event on Wednesday, project leaders and supporters celebrated the $80 million development, called H3C, which stands for “culture, commerce and community.” Today, it’s a torn-up lot on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in Central City, the former site of the Brown’s Dairy parking lot.
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