The NHS of New Orleans Neighborhood Center was the venue for a summer camp for neighborhood children.
By Claudia Askew
Two years after Hurricane Katrina devastated one of America’s most beloved cities, Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of New Orleans is
back on track and focusing on its pre-Katrina goals of increasing services. In addition, the organization is focused on helping people navigate the Road Home program. Road Home provides housing assistance for people whose homes were destroyed or damaged by the hurricane. In 2007, NHS has already:
- Conducted Road Home informational workshops for 141 families
- Assisted 97 families to navigate the Road Home program with individual counseling
- Provided homeownership counseling to 300 families
- Awarded 153 Homebuyer Training and 31 Financial Fitness Certificates
- Closed 30 loans worth $507,216
- Renovated or built 10 homes worth $420,706
- Helped 31 families become first-time homebuyers
The Southern district office of NeighborWorks® America assisted NHS to adopt a rebuilding strategy centered on housing and financial counseling, single family homeowner production, and community building. In addition, NeighborWorks America provided a capacity building grant for NHS to hire a chief operating officer and assisted in the development of two community centers.
NHS doubled its staff, joined the NeighborWorks Community Building and Organizing Initiative and obtained four AmeriCorps volunteers with help from NeighborWorks America. Moreover, the organization has expanded its service area to include not only the New Orleans metropolitan area but also beyond into rural areas.
HomeOwnership Center – Helping People Come Home
The NHS
of New Orleans’ HomeOwnership Center has seen an increase in customers as residents of New Orleans gradually return to the city. A $3 million grant from the government of Qatar has allowed the NHS to provide financial assistance to prospective homeowners.
In addition to homeowner education and Road Home Assistance, HomeOwnership Center staff members are also providing foreclosure prevention assistance. Lenders have been fairly flexible, according to Lauren Anderson, NHS executive director. She says most reputable lenders are not foreclosing if the customer is in communication with them.
“Our staff is helping families put together the resources they need to get back home,” she says.
Construction and Rehab Making Progress
In the first year after Katrina,
NHS of New Orleans'
construction management department focused mostly on helping families with initial feasibility and cost estimates so the families could understand what costs they were facing. The department helped the families make decisions about whether to rebuild and to negotiate fair settlements with their insurers. Now, families are getting funding through the Road Home program or the families' insurance, and more rehab work is underway.
In this new environment, the construction process is different than before. The need for new construction far outpaces the laborers who are available. Now more than ever, builders are turning to factory-built housing. They are examining innovative methods of construction, including importing panelized systems from Canada.
NHS of New Orleans has created three prototype homes with the Tulane School of Architecture.
Tulane URBANbuild – An Innovative Approach
NHS of New Orleans is the nonprofit partner with the Tulane School of Architecture’s (TSA) URBANbuild program. In an effort to support the revitalization of neighborhoods in the aftermath of Katrina, TSA faculty and students develop creative design for new, sustainable urban housing. The students spend one semester designing a house and the next semester actually building it. The partnership began before the storm, but has gained new significance and momentum as a rebuilding effort. The students are currently completing their third house.
The Sundance Channel recently announced that it will do a six-part series on the project. Filming will begin in September, and the series will air in the third quarter of 2008.
This URBANbuild project also provided the basis for the opening of the Design Collaborative, a joint NHS and Tulane project that will offer affordable design and planning services to families and neighborhoods.
Community Centers – Helping People Connect
NHS has developed two community centers to give people a place to meet, reconnect and access information about rebuilding activities and resources.
“In the year after Katrina, a lot of our neighborhood meetings were in coffee shops,” Anderson, says. “A lot of people went there to connect with others.” But in the neighborhoods most affected by the flooding, there were few places where people could connect. “One neighbor said she could tell who was back in town by looking at the garbage on the curb,” Anderson recalls. So NHS opened two community centers to provide a place where people could gather. There, they can get help from staff with the intense planning process, as well as access to fax machines, computers and resource materials. An advisory council of adults and children drives the centers’ activities.
Anderson credits the dedication and resiliency of her staff for the progress the organization has made. “A good percentage of my staff lost their homes, and they never missed a beat,” she recalls. “I say I never could do what they’ve done, but before the storm, they probably would have said the same thing. You don’t know your capacity until it’s put to the test.”
