Plenty of people across the country and across the local region are feeling the pinch of inflation and finding it harder and harder to pay for the basics. As locals lose their jobs and have a harder time finding consistent work, affordable housing is becoming a big issue. New Orleans, which used to be a fairly cheap city to live in, has seen that reputation fade in the years post-Hurricane Katrina. It’s a complex issue with no easy fix.
What is the state of affordable housing in the area right now? What can leaders do to make sure the people from New Orleans who also work in New Orleans aren’t priced out of their own city? Andreanecia Morris is the President of the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance and was able to share some interesting information on what it will take to keep housing affordable and what can be done to stop the population hemorrhage Orleans Parish has been experiencing.
While some may think of the term ‘affordable housing’ in a negative light, Morris notes that it’s important to define what the term actually means. “Affordable housing isn’t a type of housing, it’s a state of being for those who live in it. If a household is spending more than 30% of their income on their total housing costs, that is not sustainable,” she points out. “That’s how people end up getting evicted, that’s how people get foreclosed on, and that’s why people decide to sell their home and move somewhere else that’s less expensive,” Morris went on to explain…