by Rebecca Mowbray, The Times-Picayune
Thursday May 15, 2008, 10:50 AM
A diverse group of faith-based organizations has raised $4.5 million to create two new disaster relief funds that will help affordable housing projects close financing gaps and help small businesses get back on their feet.
The Isaiah Funds, a project of Catholic, Jewish, Mennonite and Baptist institutions, is believed to be the first national interfaith fund for long-term domestic disaster recovery.
The groups, which have been active in volunteer efforts after Hurricane Katrina, say they recognize that some of the hardest rebuilding work still lies ahead, and providing long-term, low-cost, flexible capital is one of the best ways they can continue to help.
The two funds, one for loans and one for grants, will initially focus on low-income communities on the Gulf Coast. The first set of grants and loans will be announced this morning.
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson today awarded the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) a $20 million HOPE VI Revitalization grant to support the redevelopment of the nearly 70-year-old C.J. Peete public housing complex into an attractive mixed-income community.
HANO will use the funding to revitalize the C.J. Peete public housing development. Built nearly 70 years ago, C.J. Peete is comprised of 723 units, all of which will be revitalized. The redevelopment plan includes the historic preservation and renovation of a residential building, as well as the administration building and community center, for use in the revitalized community. More on HUD AWARDS $20 MILLION TO REVITALIZE AGED C.J. PEETE PUBLIC HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN NEW ORLEANS
Mildred Thompson, Director of the PolicyLink Center for Health and Place, is promoting the airing on PBS of a documentary that explores the connection between affordable housing and heath. She writes:
The timing could not be better for the launch of the landmark PBS documentary Unnatural Causes – Is Inequality Making us Sick?, a four-part series that sheds light on the critical importance of economics, race and class on health outcomes.
The documentary (which I helped advise) skillfully portrays the vast disparities in health and overall quality of life between families with wealth and those clinging to the middle and lower rungs of the economic ladder.
The more money you have, the better your health. This powerful and vital message is at the heart of the series and helped spur the creation of the PolicyLink Center for Health and Place, which I direct. For more information and viewing times . . .
The Northshore Business Council commisioned an employer survey to gauge the need for more workforce housing. The employers surveyed confirmed that high housing prices are contributing to serious labor shortages in low-wage jobs.
Of the 187 large and midsized businesses that responded, 71 percent reported that the availability of workforce housing has an impact on them. Nearly two-thirds reported having difficulty attracting qualified job applicants.
More than 25 percent said a significant number of their workers live in neighboring parishes because they cannot afford to live in St. Tammany.
"Workforce housing is essential, and it's about economic prosperity," said Martin Mayer, president and CEO of Stirling Properties and an executive committee member of the Northshore Business Council. "Workers who must commute long distances because they can't afford housing spend excessive time on the road, which is expensive for them and adds congestion to the streets."
But some survey respondents expressed concern that cheaper housing would lead to an increase in crime or slum-like living conditions — comments that proponents see as a misunderstanding of the workforce housing concept.
St Tammany Parish business leaders are moving forward with a plan to build affordable housing for workers such as police officers and nursing assistants who are increasingly priced out of the post-Katrina real estate market.
The plan would establish what is known as a community land trust, with a nonprofit group owning land that it leases to homeowners for a nominal fee.
Prices would be within reach of those who currently cannot afford a home in the parish because the trust would retain title to the land and the buyer would own only the house itself.
Representatives from the Northshore Business Council, a newly formed group led by former Parish Council member Pat Brister and lawyer Howard Daigle, described the plan at a conference Tuesday in Madisonville.
The business council, along with the parish government and the St. Tammany Housing Partnership, soon will commission a feasibility study at an estimated cost of about $30,000, half of which will be financed with grant money from Habitat For Humanity St. Tammany West. The other half will likely come from the parish, which may eventually donate land to the trust.
