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United Nations Investigates New Orleans' Housing Crisis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
United Nations Investigates New Orleans' Housing Crisis
July 21st 2009, New Orleans – United Nations advisors will arrive in New Orleans next week to investigate the forced eviction of thousands of residents as part of the city’s ongoing post-Hurricane Katrina redevelopment. The investigation will be the UN’s third visit to New Orleans in the past three years, demonstrating its continuing concerns about the approach the city is taking toward housing and redevelopment.
During the fact-finding mission between July 26th and July 31st, independent experts from the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions will travel to affected communities across the city, focusing on three principal issues: the demolition of public housing; the displacement of Mid City residents to make way for the Louisiana State University hospital; and growing homelessness.
Residents will also share their experiences of forced eviction and their vision for a rebuilding process at a Town Hall meeting with the Advisory Group on Sunday July 26th.
The Advisory Group will then meet with local government officials, including representatives from the mayor’s office, city council and the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), to discuss their findings before traveling to Washington DC to meet with federal officials working on post disaster recovery.
The forced evictions being investigated in New Orleans come as a result of a rebuilding process that favors private sector interests over the interests of residents. This emphasis on private sector development is being felt across the country with devastating effects including the current economic crisis, which has its roots in the housing sector. While post-Katrina redevelopment policies have had a disproportionately adverse impact on poor and low-income African American communities, the ongoing lack of affordable housing, and the evictions to make way for private sector development, is a significant issue for all residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
Commenting on the situation, Sam Jackson, a local resident and founder of housing rights advocacy organization Mayday New Orleans, said:
“Folks who lived in low-income housing have been having real problems since the demolition of almost all the public housing two years ago. The vouchers they’ve been given for replacement housing don’t go near covering the rent for a whole family. Finding an affordable three or four bedroom apartment is nearly impossible.”
Members of the Advisory Group delegation will promote a participatory development model and recommend solutions to the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT that are geared towards recognition of residents’ human right to housing and greater involvement by affected communities in the rebuilding process.
A schedule for the visit and a fact sheet on the issues being investigated by the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions are available at:
Fact sheet: http://www.nesri.org/UNAGFE_NOLA_July_2009_Factsheet.pdf
Schedule: http://www.nesri.org/UNAGFE_NOLA_July_2009_Schedule.pdf
For further information, please contact:
Tiffany M. Gardner
Human Right to Housing Program Director
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
917-533-0738
tiffany@nesri.org
--------------------------
Notes to editors
1. The United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE) is an advisory body to UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency for human settlements. The primary objective of AGFE is to advise the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT in addressing unlawful forced evictions and to promote alternative policies according to UN-HABITAT’s normative work.
For further information see:
http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/AGFEmandate_revised2008.pdf
2. The UN AGFE fact-finding mission to New Orleans is taking place in line with its mandate to “monitor and identify, and, if so requested, to promote alternatives to unlawful evictions,” at the request of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative and Loyola University School of Law.
3. The organizations supporting the fact-finding mission are: Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Fair Housing Inc., Coastal Women for Change, Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital, Louisiana Justice Institute, Loyola Law Clinic, Mayday New Orleans, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, Survivors Village, UNITY of Greater New Orleans, US Human Rights Network.
4. While there are no precise figures on the racial breakdown of poor and low-income people still displaced from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, indications strongly suggest that they are overwhelmingly African American. The African American population of New Orleans has dropped by 57 percent since Katrina, while the White population fell 36 percent, according to census data.
Tiffany M. Gardner
Director of Human Right to Housing Program
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
90 John Street, Suite 308
New York, NY 10038
(212) 253-1710, extension 304
www.nesri.org
United Nations Investigates New Orleans' Housing Crisis
July 21st 2009, New Orleans – United Nations advisors will arrive in New Orleans next week to investigate the forced eviction of thousands of residents as part of the city’s ongoing post-Hurricane Katrina redevelopment. The investigation will be the UN’s third visit to New Orleans in the past three years, demonstrating its continuing concerns about the approach the city is taking toward housing and redevelopment.
During the fact-finding mission between July 26th and July 31st, independent experts from the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions will travel to affected communities across the city, focusing on three principal issues: the demolition of public housing; the displacement of Mid City residents to make way for the Louisiana State University hospital; and growing homelessness.
Residents will also share their experiences of forced eviction and their vision for a rebuilding process at a Town Hall meeting with the Advisory Group on Sunday July 26th.
The Advisory Group will then meet with local government officials, including representatives from the mayor’s office, city council and the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), to discuss their findings before traveling to Washington DC to meet with federal officials working on post disaster recovery.
The forced evictions being investigated in New Orleans come as a result of a rebuilding process that favors private sector interests over the interests of residents. This emphasis on private sector development is being felt across the country with devastating effects including the current economic crisis, which has its roots in the housing sector. While post-Katrina redevelopment policies have had a disproportionately adverse impact on poor and low-income African American communities, the ongoing lack of affordable housing, and the evictions to make way for private sector development, is a significant issue for all residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.
Commenting on the situation, Sam Jackson, a local resident and founder of housing rights advocacy organization Mayday New Orleans, said:
“Folks who lived in low-income housing have been having real problems since the demolition of almost all the public housing two years ago. The vouchers they’ve been given for replacement housing don’t go near covering the rent for a whole family. Finding an affordable three or four bedroom apartment is nearly impossible.”
Members of the Advisory Group delegation will promote a participatory development model and recommend solutions to the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT that are geared towards recognition of residents’ human right to housing and greater involvement by affected communities in the rebuilding process.
A schedule for the visit and a fact sheet on the issues being investigated by the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions are available at:
Fact sheet: http://www.nesri.org/UNAGFE_NOLA_July_2009_Factsheet.pdf
Schedule: http://www.nesri.org/UNAGFE_NOLA_July_2009_Schedule.pdf
For further information, please contact:
Tiffany M. Gardner
Human Right to Housing Program Director
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
917-533-0738
tiffany@nesri.org
--------------------------
Notes to editors
1. The United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE) is an advisory body to UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency for human settlements. The primary objective of AGFE is to advise the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT in addressing unlawful forced evictions and to promote alternative policies according to UN-HABITAT’s normative work.
For further information see:
http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/AGFEmandate_revised2008.pdf
2. The UN AGFE fact-finding mission to New Orleans is taking place in line with its mandate to “monitor and identify, and, if so requested, to promote alternatives to unlawful evictions,” at the request of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative and Loyola University School of Law.
3. The organizations supporting the fact-finding mission are: Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Fair Housing Inc., Coastal Women for Change, Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital, Louisiana Justice Institute, Loyola Law Clinic, Mayday New Orleans, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, Survivors Village, UNITY of Greater New Orleans, US Human Rights Network.
4. While there are no precise figures on the racial breakdown of poor and low-income people still displaced from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, indications strongly suggest that they are overwhelmingly African American. The African American population of New Orleans has dropped by 57 percent since Katrina, while the White population fell 36 percent, according to census data.
Tiffany M. Gardner
Director of Human Right to Housing Program
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
90 John Street, Suite 308
New York, NY 10038
(212) 253-1710, extension 304
www.nesri.org
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