Post-Disaster Housing Recovery Policy: Road Home Option 1 in New Orleans, LA

Michelle Thompson
University of New Orleans
New Orleans, LA

Husni Qurt
University of New Orleans
Metairie, LA

The effectiveness of Louisiana Land Trust /Road Home “Option 1” public policy for blight remediation in New Orleans, LA is considered in this research paper.

After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans, LA, the response of the Federal Government was the development of a ‘rapid response’ program providing up to $150,000 for home rehabilitation. The owners were required to complete rehabilitation within 3 years of fund receipt. In 2011, the City estimates the total number of blighted properties to be within 40-60,000 properties. While no survey was conducted for these properties, proxies for home renovation and/or occupancy such as electrical usage or mail delivery do not provide accurate information. This raises questions on the effectiveness of these policies without the benefit of on-the-ground verification of parcel condition surveys.

This research provides an analysis of 1,807 properties whose covenant expired as of April 30, 2010. This city-wide parcel level survey assembles building condition, use, occupancy and property images within a Geographic Information System (GIS) for visual and spatial analysis. Early results show that more than 85% of the Option 1 properties were renovated.

While, one might argue that this policy was successful in motivating the renovation of Option 1 blight in New Orleans, additional questions about the ramifications of how property damage assessments, value contributions pre- and post-disaster, as well as, potential for future blight must still be addressed.