Last week marks 14 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall and forever changed the Gulf Coast. Since that time, New Orleanians have continued to create opportunities for the city and its legendary sense of community to flourish. However, there are still many residents who are finding themselves being pushed out of their homes and losing access to the city they helped to build. 

What’s happening in New Orleans is the result of policies that may have been well-intentioned, but resulted in perpetuating inequity. For instance, the federally-funded Road Home rebuilding program gave homeowners grants that were based on the pre-storm value of their damaged home, rather than on the cost to rebuild.  Because the grant formula failed to take into account the effects of redlining and residential segregation, homeowners in predominately white neighborhoods had homes that were valued higher than the homes that were similar in size and age in predominantly African American neighborhoods. Due in part to the discriminatory nature of the grant formula, 70 percent of long-term white residents were able to return to New Orleans within a year, but only 42 percent of long-term black residents were able to do the same.

Fourteen years after the storm, displacement in New Orleans continues. Long-term residents are being pushed out of neighborhoods due to a variety of factors, including increases in rent and property taxes, driven in part by the proliferation of short-term rentals and the rise in gentrification.

Despite the grim parts of New Orleans’ recovery, there are positive developments. This summer, New Orleans took a big step toward regulating short-term rentals. Starting in December, STR operators will be required to reside on the property that is being rented in residentially-zoned areas of the city, which is designed to stop the practice of out-of-state speculators turning several homes into short-term rentals that can no longer house long-term New Orleanians. 

Additionally, the Housing Authority of New Orleans has partnered with a private developer to bring a mixed-income development to the Bywater, a neighborhood with one of the highest post-Katrina rates of African-American displacement.  The proposed development will bring 82 deeply affordable housing units in a neighborhood that has gentrified and is now one of the most well-resourced in the city.

14 years after the storm, the fight to keep New Orleanians in New Orleans continues. As we celebrate the recent steps the city has taken to combating displacement, we also remember the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and pledge to continue to work to keep New Orleans a home to those who made it great.