After the Housing Authority of New Orleans’ Nov. 29 approval of almost $31 million in contracts for demolishing vacant buildings in five of the city’s public housing developments, demolition is expected to begin Dec. 15. According to HANO spokesman Adonis Expose, more than 4,500 housing units are expected to be destroyed in the first phase of demolition.
The news comes nearly six months after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has overseen HANO the past five years, announced its plans to obliterate the city’s four largest housing projects - B.W. Cooper, C.J. Peete, St. Bernard and Lafitte - to create space for "mixed-income" communities.
All of the housing projects earmarked for demolition with the exception of B.W. Cooper - have remained boarded up and uninhabited since Hurricane Katrina sent floodwaters across the city more than two years ago.
HANO also approved plans to complete the transformation of the Fischer housing development in Algiers, with demolition and construction plans slated to finish the work it began in 2004.
Last week’s plans were approved by HANO board commissioner Donald Babers without any input from the nearly two dozen people who attended Thursday’s HANO meeting.
HANO plans to preserve several buildings in each of the city’s historic housing developments, as it did when it demolished the St. Thomas housing development to make room for "mixed-income" housing in the Lower Garden District.
Former St. Bernard housing development resident Stacey Johnson applauded plans to demolish the housing project she once called home. "I’m glad that there’s going to be some new life, some new hope for people," she told WWL-TV.
Johnson, who now lives in a home across the street from the housing development, said the neighborhood has been plagued with crime and violence in recent years. "I’ve had my property vandalized a coupe of times and shot a couple of times," she said Thursday.
A coalition of organizations supporting the housing rights of former public housing residents and the right of displaced New Orleanians to return to the city gathered Friday morning on the steps of City Hall to call on members of the City Council to denounce efforts to demolish the city’s public housing developments and to support the right of displaced residents to return to the city.
Members of the coalition said they are seeking an amendment to the City Council’s resolution in support of the Gulf Coast Recovery Act because they felt it wasn’t strong enough in its support of the right of displaced residents to return to New Orleans and its opposition to demolition of public housing units in the city. In its current form, the resolution does not mention the right to return to New Orleans.
Housing advocates have said consistently over the past two years that the city’s plans for post-Katrina recovery, including efforts to demolish housing developments, have made it impossible for many of the city’s displaced black residents to return to New Orleans. Few of those fighting to re-open the city’s housing developments believe it’s a coincidence that the city is moving forward with speed to tear down the city’s four largest housing developments.
Pam Nath of the Mennonite Central Committee said Friday that the coalition "We’re convinced that if the City Council went on record saying that they are opposed to demolition of units in this city, that could make a real difference with HUD and HANO’s plans to demolish the units," she said. "Even though that’s a federal agency, we believe the City Council’s wishes about what happens in their city will be taken seriously by the federal government. We want them to take the responsibility of speaking to this issue. We’re asking them to explicitly express their opposition to those demolition plans."
"The coalition also calls on the mayor to come out and make a clear, explicit statement that he is opposed to demolition of these units until there is a plan to replace them for all residents who want to come home," Nath told The Louisiana Weekly.
"Given that there are already more than 12,000 homeless folks in the city and over 200,000 residents still displaced, how can they eliminate that many affordable units?" she added.
After the press conference, housing activists brought their efforts to block the demolition of the housing developments before the City Council. Several members of the council reportedly agree to discuss the proposed amendment to its resolution at the next Housing and Human Needs Committee.
"Our biggest concern is time," Nath said Friday afternoon. "Obviously, time is of the essence."
The coalition of more than 20 organizations at Friday’s City Hall press conference included Churches Supporting Churches, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Common Ground, People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, Mennonite Central Committee, Louisiana Justice Institute, C3, Hope House, Ashé Cultural Arts Center and several others.
