New Orleans

Stop the Proliferation of Short-term Rentals

• For the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center (LaFHAC), the regulation of short-term rentals (STRs) has always been primarily driven by our commitment to fight displacement and segregation. It is clear that the proliferation of STRs have contributed to the hollowing out of many historically-Black neighborhoods and contributed to evictions, the rising cost of housing, and helped supercharge gentrification.
• The New Orleans City Council finalized their court mandated rewrite on residential short-term rental ordinances in March of 2023, and as they move to revise commercial short-term rental rules, LaFHAC continues to push for regulations that will limit displacement and leverage STRs to create more affordable housing for long-term residents.  
• By restricting commercial STRs to affordable housing developments, the city can use existing zoning rules that allow developers more flexibility if they are willing to build a percentage of affordable units. A similar number of short-term rental permits can be allowed as an additional incentive to subsidize the affordable units.
• This would increase city oversight because developers and owners of affordable developments are required to interact with Safety and Permits and the Office of Community Development on a regular basis.
• The City Council should pass new commercial STR laws that protect our neighborhood main streets and other mixed-use areas from the rapid spread of STRs, while also ensuring that existing enforcement measures are functioning well.

Make Smart One-time Investments to Address the Housing Crisis

• The economic stimulus plan aimed to speed up the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), was signed into law in March of 2021, and the City of New Orleans received two allocations totaling $388M.
• City Council should allocate the remaining ARPA funds to smart investments that will help New Orleans recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and address the root causes of violence and homelessness.
• LaFHAC continues to advocate for $107M across five affordable housing investments to alleviate the growing housing crisis since Hurricane Katrina that has been exacerbated by COVID-19, Hurricane Ida, and record-high inflation.
• These investments will connect the unhoused or those on the verge of being unhoused to safe, stable, affordable housing, create permanently and deeply affordable rental housing, help landlords and homeowners make essential updates to their homes, and provide renters displaced by health or safety violations with relocation funding.

Defend Affordable Housing Against NIMBY Opposition

• There is broad and deep support for ensuring all our neighborhoods stay affordable so that New Orleanians aren’t pushed out, but small, vocal groups of neighbors often derail new affordable housing developments.
• Neighborhood associations often lead this charge at the City Planning Commission and City Council, but their boards are disproportionately white, wealthy, and majority homeowner, while our city is majority Black, working class, and renters.
• Councilmembers should defend affordable housing developments against Not In My Back Yard (NIMBY) opposition and ask any neighborhood associations that come before the Council to make public the demographics of their board members.

Click here to learn more or tell us about NIMBY opposition in your neighborhood.