By Liza Cowan, program officer for the Community Revitilazation Fund at the Greater New Orleans Foundation.
What does it mean to go home for the Holidays? For some, “home for the holidays” means going across town to a sibling’s or cousin’s house for a big meal with all the family. Others will “go home” to their old neighborhood to reunite and celebrate with friends and neighbors. School, job, or other life circumstances keep some New Orleanians elsewhere most of the year — the holidays mean coming home to the city they love.
Four years ago, fewer than 91,000[i] New Orleanians were home that Thanksgiving after Hurricane Katrina made landfall and the levees failed. Many who were here lived in temporary housing, not yet back in their own homes. They lived in a foreign city: one devoid of familiar landmarks, lost without old routines. Many had to drive long distances to purchase groceries and lived without working kitchens in which to cook the traditional holiday meal.
Recent estimates suggest that by Thanksgiving of this year, New Orleans will have 78% of its pre-Katrina population, though this number includes newcomers as well as those who lived here prior to August 2005. But living in New Orleans costs more than it used to. 41% of renters in Orleans Parish spend more than 50% of their pre-tax income on housing costs, which include rent and utilities. Rising insurance and utility rates, combined with the cost of repairs, mean homeowners are also struggling with the increased cost of housing: more than one of every three homeowners spends more than 30% of pre-tax household income on housing.[ii]
The federal government defines households that pay more than 30% of their income on housing as “housing cost burdened.” Such unaffordable housing costs often force families to cut costs on other expenses like healthcare, schooling and/or food. The Community Revitalization Fund at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, founded in 2007 by 21 local and national foundations, envisions a city where safe, high-quality, and affordable housing — housing that does not cost more than 30% of income — is available for all who want to live in this city we call home.
This Thanksgiving holiday, we give thanks for the countless volunteers and the generous donors who have worked — and continue to work — so hard to help our neighbors come home. We also give thanks for the citizens of New Orleans who are volunteering their time, energy, and passion working tirelessly to rebuild this City so that all of us can be home for the holidays.
[i]McCarthy, Kevin, D.J. Peterson, Narayan Sastry, Michael Pollard. The Repopulation of New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina. RAND Gulf States Policy Institute : 2006
[ii] Plyer, Allison, Elaine Oritz, Margery Austin Turner and Kathryn L.S. Petit. Housing Production Needs: Three Scenarios for New Orleans. Greater New Orleans Community Data Center: November 2009.
