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    Public Housing, Gentrification and Cultural Heritage
    Public Housing, Gentrification and Cultural Heritage
    Public Housing, Gentrification and Cultural Heritage
    Ebook40 pages17 minutes

    Public Housing, Gentrification and Cultural Heritage

    By Nora Goddard

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    Here is provided an overview of several of New Orleans original "Big Four" housing projects, such as St. Thomas and Iberville, with a comparison to the later, larger scale housing projects such as the Desire and Florida developments. The early, WPA-era public housing was constructed on relatively high ground, and in dense walkable districts. As property values rose, developers deployed a number of strategies to displace those occupying the now-coveted sites. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005, these strategies moved forward full force, and nearly all residents were displaced.

                In the wake of disaster, when the city of New Orleans announced they intended to demolish almost all the remaining public housing, there was an enormous public outcry. Community groups staged protests, but ultimately, the cause was lost. All of the projects in question are now gone, with the exception of a few lone boarded up buildings left as architectural examples. The final chapter in the saga of American public housing is its' sly conversion to mixed-income housing, with a rarely-fulfilled promise to replace the affordable units demolished to make way for new construction. A reflection is due to the loss, not only of the housing crisis, but of the importance of these prominent parts of our built environment. The public housing developments are intrinsically linked with New Orleans' history and the struggles of working class and Black folks here. The privatization of public housing has transformed it from a social service to an amalgamation of the real estate, contracting, and investment industries. It is designed to enhance the resources of these industries, not to serve citizens.

                It is crucial to the historic fabric of our city that we preserve not just the impressive, beautiful buildings, but those occupied by working class citizens as well. After all it is these people that created the unique culture we have here in New Orleans. Historic affordable housing units may not be luxurious enough to appeal to market rate buyers, but that is not what their original intent was. They have been praised by architects such as Andres Duany, as well as by many of the people who have lived in them. The projects built in the 1930's and 40's were solid and well-constructed, and withstood many disasters since then, not just Katrina. The difference, of course, is that past disasters were not manipulated to accommodate some of the most brutal urban renewal projects America has ever seen.

                 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNora Goddard
    Release dateNov 13, 2024
    ISBN9798230351269
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      Book preview

      Public Housing, Gentrification and Cultural Heritage - Nora Goddard

      ​Public Housing, Gentrification and Cultural Heritage

      Nora Goddard

      Foreword

      This is an edited version of an editorial first published in 2012, when the demolition of the Iberville Projects was imminent. I was then a historic preservation student at Tulane, and had been watching a rash of post-Katrina demolition with dismay. The destruction of the last of the public housing, though, was notable in that it symbolized the city’s disregard for its working class residents as well as its disregard for its historic built environment. The essay I published relied largely upon my own observations, as well as a few wonderful sources which are cited in this bibliography and suggested reading for anyone interested in the topic. I also suggest reading about the archeology done by UNO at the Iberville Projects after their demolition, as a lot of valuable research was gained from that project. This is not intended to be an exhaustive history of New Orleans’ public housing projects. A lot has changed since this was first penned, both in New Orleans and in preservation at large. New Orleans did, as we know, destroy all it’s public housing in favor of mixed income. And time did show that most of those destroyed units were never replaced. More recent research I’ve done shows that this was not a unique experience for New Orleanians. Atlanta, for example, also had small scale, masonry public housing units that were successful, and that met a similar fate to New Orleans at the intersection of gentrification, urban renewal, and

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