It shouldn't be this hard

Given the amount of yelling and screaming that had to be overcome to permit this development in Bywater, it really should have been worth more than this.

The planned development process also limits the number of units the developer, the Texas-based ITEX Group, can build. The company and the Housing Authority of New Orleans, which owns the land on Royal Street, were seeking mixed-use zoning, which would have allowed up to 189 residential units. The underlying zoning approved Thursday would cap units at 146.

The proposal before the council calls for 136 units. HANO and ITEX have said they would subsidize 90 affordable apartments by offering 46 market-rate units.

That's barely even the beginning of a dent in the affordable housing shortage.  And the only way to finance it is by allowing the developer to sell 46 "market-rate" (likely high end) apartments. Yes, it builds some affordable housing. But we shouldn't be required to build nice things for rich people just to be able to do that.

And still the yuppies in the heavily gentrified neighborhood showed up to bitch and moan.  Unfortunately this is the "only game in town."

Another project supporter, affordable housing advocate Breonne DeDecker, said the council should consider that resources for affordable housing is extremely scarce.

“This is the only game we have in town. We will not get this fixed until there’s a huge lift at the federal level," DeDecker, program manager at the Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative, said.

But the only game is still rigged.