This new one says $500 million. It doesn't yet say specifically how that money will be divided up just yet. The CAO Gilbert Montaño says that's for "maximum flexibility," which we know is a thing voters always find reassuring. The really intriguing element, though, is part of it is designated for "affordable housing." I don't think I remember the city doing that before. It sounds good but there are questions.
Most immediately, we'd like to know more about the scope of such an endeavor. But that would mean knowing more about how the money is going to be allocated and, well, it's "flexible."
The use of city bonds to build affordable housing that would be owned by the city is a new approach for New Orleans. The city’s bond attorneys have said that it would be the only municipality in Louisiana to fund such projects that way, Montaño said."It has to be millions," says the guy who will decide how much it will actually be. That's.. positive? He could have said tens.
Asked how much could potentially be put into that effort, he said, “Millions. It has to be millions.”
Update: Anyway, we hope it's a lot. It won't be enough. But I hope it's a lot.
Despite efforts by housing advocates, New Orleans’ housing affordability remains virtually unchanged from last year, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2019 “Out of Reach” report.
The report found that in order to afford a “modest” two-bedroom rental in the New Orleans-Metairie area without spending more than 30 percent of income on housing costs, a person would have to make $19.38 an hour, up slightly from a housing wage of $19.15 in 2018.
By these estimates, minimum wage workers in the city would currently have to work 108 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom rental in the city.
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