Our mission is to transform unjust housing policies, discriminatory practices, and inequitable development schemes by engaging in strategies that create permanently affordable housing, advance tenant rights, expand housing security, and uphold equitable housing patterns and land use planning.
We hope you had a fun, festive, and spooky Halloween! The City is in the throes of a budget crisis so let’s chat about what’s going on and how you can join the fight!
Updates on the City Budget:
Areas You Should Care About
As of late October, the City of New Orleans various departments are continuing to present their budget requests to City Council. On October 8, members from Jane Place, the New Orleans Renters Rights Assembly, the Right to Counsel Coalition, and the Big Easy Budget Coalition hosted a successful rally and press conference that spoke truth to power! Afterwards, we all went into City Council chambers and spoke out against cuts to Right to Counsel and the low-barrier shelter. We received public promises from various City Council members that the budget cuts will be reversed. We’re waiting until the end of all budget hearings to see how the chips fall, but you can help ensure these critical areas are funded by sending emails and calling your City Council members (council.nola.gov/home) to ensure that they fund Right to Counsel. See Jane Place’s Instagram stories (@janeplace_communitylandtrust) over the next few weeks to learn more about how to do this!
The Alphabet Soup of Organizations:
Who Makes Affordable Housing Happen in our City?
Despite public opinion, affordable housing creation and maintenance in our city is much simpler than other places. The following departments, independent organizations, and non-profit groups handle various areas. See below to learn more!
The Office of Community Development
Right to Counsel funding.
nola.gov/next/community-development/home
The Office of Healthy Homes
Manages our city’s renters’ habitability standards.
nola.gov/next/healthy-homes/home
The Office of Code Enforcement
Manages the inspectors for the Healthy Homes habitability standards.
nola.gov/next/code-enforcement/home
There are other departments that are technically government entities but are also independent agencies that quasi operate outside of the full scope and purview of the mayor and City Council. Those are:
The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority
NORA Housing Trust Fund.
noraworks.org
Finance New Orleans
An agency specializing in new and renovating affordable home ownership and large scale apartment buildings.
financenola.org
Housing Authority of New Orleans
HANO: our public/social housing authority that operates large scale and scattered sites of affordable housing that’s collectively owned by the City. HANO outside operates the Housing Choice Voucher program, a.k.a. Section 8.
hano.org
There are numerous non-profit and mutual-aid organizations that handle services normally managed by government entities in other cities and other developed nations. Those organizations include:
The Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center
LAFHAC: a non-profit that handles our state’s fair housing issues. Fights against discrimination in housing based upon our city’s, state’s, and federal government protections.
lafairhousing.org
Jane Place
US! We provide tenant rights education, advocacy, tenant union training in apartment complexes, renters’ rights hotlines in English and Spanish, and more.
jpnsi.org
NOLA Renters Rights Assembly
Your city and region-wide tenant union. Organizing, advocating, and mobilizing folks across our city.
nolarra.org
There are more organizations, but we only have so much space. In the future, we’ll talk about the organizations who uplift, advocate, and support our unhoused/homeless individuals, families, and elders.
Upcoming Fun Events, Workshops, and How to Connect
Wanna get involved? Get informed? Join us at these events!
New Orleans Renters Rights Assembly (and Renters’ Rights Legal Clinic)
Thursday 11/5
6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
First Grace UMC (entrance through back parking lot)
3401 Canal St.
Weekly Tenant Rights Clinic
(every Tuesday and Wednesday)
3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
200 S. Broad St. Ste. 204
(parking lot behind the building, enter from Cleveland Ave.)
New: 7th Annual “Let Us Not Forget” Vigil
Sunday 11/8
3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Meet at 700 Elysian Fields Ave. (Washington Square)
For more information, go to jpnsi.org or @janeplace_communitylandtrust on Instagram, visit linktr.ee/JanePlaceCLT, email frank@jpnsi.org, or text UPDATES to (504) 517-5470 with your name and the event you have interest in.
Photo courtesy Jane Place
