Time bombs

Lots and lots of American Can type projects all over town are going to mature from "mixed" housing into the Nice Things For Rich People they were built to be in the first place.

A former can manufacturing plant was transformed into the American Can Apartments in 2000 with the help of $39 million in public resources, including bonds and grants. In return, developer HRI Properties had to keep at least 20 percent of the 268 units at affordable rates when the property opened a year later.

In 2013, HRI Properties sold the complex to Georgia-based Audubon Communities Management. Attorneys for the complex didn't respond to a request for comment.

The lower rents expired in March, but the complex is allowing those affected to stay until the end of October at the reduced rates, said Hannah Adams, an attorney with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services who worked with Esnault.

The length of subsidies in New Orleans varies from development to development, ranging from as little as five years to 15 years or more, said Ellen Lee, director of housing policy and community development for Mayor Mitch Landrieu's administration.

Affordable-housing subsidies for about 1,200 units will expire in 2021 with another estimated 5,000 scheduled to expire 10 years later, she said.

Meanwhile, wages remain stagnant, and the short term rental market is turning more and more of the housing stock over to tourism.  No mayoral candidate has a plan to curb STRs. The nearest any of them comes to a housing plan is more "incentive" programs tied to luxury development. That's not gonna get it done.