New Orleans Holding Out Hope HOME Program is Spared in Budget Fights

Robert McClendon reports in the Times-Picayune on the closely watched negotiations over the Federal budget that has the potential to devastate a program used by the city and local developers to finance the construction of new affordable housing projects in New Orleans. Grants issued through the HOME Investment Partnership program have allowed private developers to obtain additional tax credits and funding, "transforming $5 million into more than $100 million," according to New Orleans Housing czar, Ellen Lee.

The program has garnered mixed-levels of support from the area’s two Republican legislators, while advocates stress the need for the program in a city like New Orleans, where traditional development patterns include "shotgun doubles and converted four-unit houses," making financing for these smaller projects more difficult.

"Forced to pick where to apply the budget knife, HOME presents a less politically painful target for legislators than some housing programs such as Section 8, which supplies rental assistance to poor families. Cuts to that program would result in the widespread loss of housing for single mothers, the elderly and the disabled.

HOME, by contrast, is often used to create new affordable housing, so cuts would be far less visible in the present, even as they undermine affordable housing for thousands of low-income residents in the future."

McClendon reports that HOME funds have also been used to provide loans to homeowners to repair damage cause during Hurricane Katrina, helping to keep residents in their homes.