Jane Place: Updates from a Ghoulish Housing Landscape

By Angela Owczarek, Y. Frank Southall

Fall is the time of City budgets, pumpkin spice… and housing horrors aplenty that aren’t so nice. Let’s dive in.

The City Budget: “It’s your money; use it when you need it”

It’s time again for the City’s annual budget to be released, debated, and voted upon. The budget process can be hard to understand, let alone change. The City’s efforts to gather input feel performative at best and non-existent at worst.

But now, the Big Easy Budget Coalition (BEBC) is fighting back to create a budget that works for everyone: The Big Easy Deal. Groups such as Jane Place, the Renters’ Rights Assembly, and many others make up this coalition. All BEBC members and budget asks can be found at bigeasydeal.org.

We need YOU to contact your councilmembers and voice your support for The Big Easy Deal for 2025! The Deal addresses multiple priorities: youth, community violence prevention, community equity, and housing. Our housing asks total $118 million:

  • $65 million for deeply affordable rental housing construction
  • $17 million for an anti-displacement fund
  • $15 million for emergency rental assistance
  • $10 million for owner-occupied rehab
  • $10 million for renter-occupied rehab
  • $1 million for street outreach and supports for unhoused persons

Can you believe we could have ALL of our housing asks funded for just three-fourths of what was allocated to NOPD this year?

Ask your councilmember to support The Big Easy Deal TODAY! Budget meetings span from October 1 to November 4, so the time is now (schedule at council.nola.gov/meetings):

Note: Confirm your district councilmember at nola.gov/council-maps. In emails, copy their chief of staff, listed at council.nola.gov/directory. Mass emails to all councilmembers will go unanswered.

Fall Voting: Support the Housing Trust Fund

On your November 5 ballot, you’ll vote on our city’s first-ever housing trust fund! If passed, this fund would direct 2% of the general fund toward affordable housing. This is NOT a new tax—it would simply guarantee 2% of the general fund would support housing, with three priorities:

  1. Creating and Preserving Affordable Homeownership Opportunities
  2. Expanding the Supply of Affordable Rental Housing Units
  3. Preserving Affordable Rental Housing Units to Prevent Future Displacement

You may be thinking: Wait, do I support the housing trust fund or do I support The Big Easy Deal? Both! The housing trust fund is an overdue baby step forward. While important, its anticipated amount ($17 million annually) is insufficient for all New Orleanians needing housing help. We can have it all. City money is our money; don’t we want our money to house our neighbors and protect them from displacement?

4th Annual Slumlord Monster Mash @ Critical Mass Bike Ride

The slumlords are rising from their ghastly tombs and crawling out of their caves. We hear them howling at the full moon (of capitalism)! Yes, it’s Halloween season and Critical Mass is restarting with a Friday, October 25 bike ride. Folks meet at 4:30 p.m. outside Jackson Square, bike ride at 5:15. The theme is Slumlord Monster Mash. Dress up as a cockroach, black mold, or your most-hated slumlord!

Eviction Updates: Go! To! Court!

If an eviction is filed against you, whether or not you attend your eviction hearing will likely decide your case. This past month, we saw many cases end in formal eviction rulings because the tenant facing eviction didn’t come to court: In one day’s court session downtown, 60% of cases ended this way. An eviction hearing with no tenant present is often decided in under 10 seconds, but the resulting formal eviction decision will remain on the tenant’s rental and credit histories long-term. Even if you have already moved out, go to court and tell the judge so your case can be dismissed and not affect you long-term.

As a reminder: In Orleans Parish Eviction Court, you can access free legal representation regardless of your income or citizenship status under the Right to Counsel Program. At your court date, find Southeast Louisiana Legal Services’ (SLLS) Eviction Help Desk (right outside the courtroom). Want help before court? Call SLLS at 504-529-1000, extension 223. Leave a message, they’ll call back. If you’re having other housing issues, call Jane Place’s Renters’ Rights Hotline at 504-539-4504. We also organize a renters’ rights clinic during the monthly Renters’ Rights Assembly every first Thursday (see sidebar).

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 Clinic)
Thursday 10/3
6-8 p.m.
First Grace UMC (entrance through back parking lot)
3401 Canal St. 70119

Know Your Rights, Know Your Power: Renters’ Rights Workshop
Saturday 10/5
2-4 p.m.
Rosa Keller Library
4300 S. Broad St. 70125

Housing Justice Fall Horror Film Series: Beetlejuice
Tuesday 10/15
6-8:30 p.m.
Parish Hall
2533 Columbus St. 70119

Critical Mass Bike Ride: 4th Annual Slumlord Monster Mash
Friday 10/25
meetup 4:30 p.m., ride 5:15 p.m.
Outside Jackson Square (Chartres & St. Ann) 

Day of the Dead Cultural Exchange
Saturday 10/26
3-6 p.m.
Parish Hall
2533 Columbus St. 70119

For more information, go to jpnsi.org, email frank@jpnsi.org, or text UPDATES to 504-517-5470 with your name and the event you have interest in.

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.

This space is provided to Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative as a community service and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or editorial policies of ANTIGRAVITY.

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