Faith-Based Initiatives
The faith-based community played an integral role in the overall
housing and neighborhood development strategy. Among the organizations that participated
were St. David's All Congregations Together (ACT), Holy Ghost ACT and the
Jeremiah Group.
Some of the notable projects completed were First
Emmanuel Baptist Church's 1st Emanuel Homes, First Evangelist Missionary
Baptist Church's Oasis projects, Asia Baptist Church's Edward Madison Homes, Christian
Faith Ministries' Windsor Village Community Center, St. Peter Claver Catholic Church's
historic restoration of St. Ann Square, St. James AME's Bienville Apartments,
Progressive Baptist Church's Murphy W. McCaleb Education Center, Cornerstone Apartments,
the St. Mark's Community Center, Willwood Community's Holy Angels Academy and the Watson
Family Center of Hope's Community Center.
Housing Recovery & Code
Enforcement
New Orleans has reduced abandoned and blighted properties by
one-third, removing more than 11,000 vacant housing units from the landscape.
Six thousand blighted and substandard homes were improved
through city initiatives like Project Open House, Project Nu Coat, Project Nu
Roof, Owner Occupied Rehabilitation Program, Emergency Home Repair Program and Preservation
Resource Center's Christmas in October.
Since 1994, 1,000 blighted cases were resolved by the New
Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA), compared to only 84 cases prior to 1994.
Housing Code Enforcement investigated more
than 5,000 active uninhabitable housing and public nuisance cases, up from a low of 400
cases in 1994.
We helped institute the Real Estate Acquisition and
Land-banking Mechanism (REALM) allowing for strategic planning for the
redevelopment of blighted properties.
The city and private contractors demolished more than 5,000
units of vacant and blighted properties including the former Oakbrook Complex.
The demolition of the Oakbrook Complex lead the way for the development of our Strategic
Inspection Force (SIF). The Strategic Inspection Force is a City of New Orleans
interdepartmental clean up and code enforcement effort targeting specific neighborhoods.
In addition to the Departmental involvement, area neighborhood and community groups assist
and participate. Other valuable code enforcement tools instituted included: Operation
Spring Cleaning, Operation Slumlord, Blight Buster's Project Lien Waiver and Senate
Bill 977. To fight blight, city financial resources were leveraged with private
sector investment on Liberty Bank's Corpus Christi 7th Ward Initiative, Whitney
Bank's Whitney Square, Bank One's Central City Initiative, Hibernia Bank's Project
Renaissance Program and Dryades Savings Bank's Treme Initiatives
- all housing redevelopment projects.
|
