Ensuring Resident Need Satisfaction with Effective Housing Management

Tyra Johnson Brown, Director of Housing Policy and Community Development, Mayor LaToya Cantrell, City of New Orleans

Strategies to Ensure Optimal Utilization of Housing Resources While Addressing Resident Needs

The City of New Orleans Office of Housing Policy and Community Development facilitates the development and preservation of quality housing and suitable living environments for persons of low-to-moderate income levels through strategic investments and partnerships with public, private, philanthropic, non-profit, and resident stakeholders. Over the past few decades, housing costs have increased faster than incomes, and households continue to struggle to stabilize their housing. The entire country is addressing the affordable housing crisis. As resources are deployed to the city of New Orleans, this office provides real-time information on the programs available through expanded public engagement, including but not limited to hosting community meetings with direct connections to the services needed for optimal utilization. Citizen engagement is the first phase of our strategy. Another phase of the strategy includes social action. Understanding the community and having empathy for social change is absolutely necessary. Social action empowers communities and can lead to social change.

Your Experiences from Initiatives Implemented to Enhance the Overall Resident Satisfaction and Wellbeing

The city of New Orleans has implemented various housing initiatives to address the affordable housing crisis. These initiatives consist of providing developers with gap financing for affordable housing, launching owner/occupied rehabilitation programs that allow homeowners to preserve their existing housing, increasing homeownership opportunities, and creating generational wealth for families. These initiatives have enhanced the well-being of the residents of New Orleans.

Engage the community prior to developing initiatives. The community is the expert on their needs, and their buy-in is required for the initiatives to be successful.

Challenges in Managing Housing Facilities

Current challenges in the housing industry include increased insurance rates, interest rates, and higher labor, supply and construction costs. These challenges were exacerbated after the COVID pandemic and continue to affect the ability to build affordable housing units to address the housing crisis.

Specific Technological Tools or Innovations Effective in Improving Housing Services

Incentivizing affordable housing developers and creating inclusionary zoning are proven and effective tools to improve housing services. The City of New Orleans has used these initiatives. 3D volumetric construction is a technological tool proven to be an effective mechanism related to building housing. These three-dimensional units are produced in a specific facility and transported to the job site for assembly.

Advice to Professionals in Housing Management in Terms of Do’s or Don’ts

Do’s:

- Engage the community prior to developing initiatives. The community is the expert on their needs, and their buy-in is required for the initiatives to be successful.

- Develop a plan with the community that will be implemented based on their recommendations and incentivize more homeownership opportunities.

Don’ts:

- Assume you know the community’s needs without the proper engagement and inclusiveness.

- Create bad housing policies to gain political wins.