The rent is too damn high

The median individual income in New Orleans is about $27,000.   That almost gets you somewhere to live comfortably... but not quite. 

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A new report released by the real estate marketplace website Zillow says people who want to rent a home in New Orleans need to bring in over $64,000 a year.

The information was released in a January 2024 report from Zillow.

The “income to afford rent” is a new statistic published by Zillow Research. It measures the minimum household income needed to afford typical rent in metro areas across the country.

"Typical rent," according to this Zillow survey in New Orleans is $1600.  Can the typical New Orleanian actually afford that?  Not really, but that isn't who we waste our housing stock on anymore. It's too valuable for that. Which is why the court battle over, even the very mild ("reasonable" in their telling) City Council restrictions on short term rentals, is never going to end. 

Lemelle's ruling is not a guarantee the new rules will survive, however, since plaintiffs' lawyer Dawn Wheelahan said she will appeal. But it will allow Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration to once again ramp up enforcement. The rules have been suspended over the last five months since Lemelle granted the plaintiffs, who are largely out-of-state owners of short-term rentals, a temporary injunction.

The last appellate ruling that struck down the earlier law came two years after the district court's initial ruling.

This isn't to say the city is any particular hurry to resume enforcement in the meantime. There's too much money at stake for landlords. They won't say it that way, of course. Instead they'll say gobbledygook. 

The city's next steps were not clear as of Wednesday afternoon.

"The Department of Safety and Permits is currently working with the Law Department to understand the full implications of the judgment and chart a path forward. The department will be releasing additional guidance for the public on enforcement and licensing very soon," spokesperson John Lawson said.

The court-ordered halt on enforcement has spurred a rise in non-permitted rentals in residential areas, where they outnumbered those with permits by about six to one earlier this month. Council members JP Morrell and Joe Giarrusso urged the administration to quickly resume enforcement.

Just gonna drag their feet until the next appeal garners a new injunction. Then nobody has to do anything until the next ruling. And even then maybe not.  

In the meantime, the rent is too damn high.