A Victory for Fair Housing in Louisiana!

by Leigh Graham

Published March 26, 2009 @ 12:19PM PT

Last week guest blogger Kate Scott of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center wrote about the racially discriminatory housing policies attempted by St. Bernard Parish, a majority-white county bordering New Orleans (specifically the Lower 9th Ward).  St. Bernard was absolutely devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and in the aftermath of the storm it attempted to preserve its housing for its white residents by passing a "blood relative" requirement for owners looking to rent their single family homes.  Prior to that, it tried to halt reconstruction and development of multi-family units, which disporportionately housed racial/ethnic minority residents of the Parish.

The Action Center successfully contested the blood relative ordinance and recently brought another lawsuit concerning the multi-family ordinance.  Yesterday, a federal judge ruled the ordinance "racially discriminatory" in both intent and impact, relying in large part on expert testimony that "African-Americans are 85 percent more likely to live in buildings with more than five units than whites, and that African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to live in rental housing."

One developer can now begin construction on 288 units of desperately needed apartments there.

As someone who grew up in multi-family housing, I take personal delight in this victory, especially after seeing how much housing stock Katrina destroyed in Southeastern Louisiana.  Although the Parish would like to point to blight within its borders as reason not to provide any additional multi-family properties, the reality is that such blight is avoided with strong property management, including adequate capital operating budgets and rental fees, collections and enforcement.  It's the absence of those labor and financial investments that lead to housing deterioration, not the aggregation of a certain number of units or a certain population group.

In reading about this victory, I agree wholeheartedly with James Perry, Exec Director of the Action Center:

"Even before Hurricane Katrina local municipalities sought to limit affordable rental opportunities. These limitations have both strangled our recovery and limited housing opportunities for people of color and people with disabilities. Judge Berrigan's ruling today sends a strong message to elected officials in our region: officials must allow the development of affordable rental housing in our region."

Congrats to the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center for their success!

(Photo of St. Bernard trailer by howieluvzus)