re: The Gentrification of New Orleans

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Historically, the lion's share of New Orleans renters lived in singles, doubles and small apartment buildings owned by mom-and-pop landlords, said Daniels. After the storm, many of these owners lacked the capacity to bring their units back online. A federally funded program was meant to help them rebuild affordable rental units, but it only ended up awarding grants to 4,500 landlords, a quarter of the number originally hoped for.

That was part of a larger failure by federal authorities, who had no disaster housing plan before Katrina struck, leading to widespread, and sometimes permanent, displacement, said Cashauna Hill, director of the Fair Housing Action Center.

Supply has also been dampened by the many properties that remain in government hands.

2,000-3,000 properties, depending on how you count them, are effectively owned by the city, forfeited to the government for long-term failure to pay property taxes. ?

1,872 are owned by the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, which took over many of the properties sold to the state by owners who took the Road Home's buyout options.?

700 potential rental units on 230 properties rendered uninhabitable by the storm are owned by the Housing Authority of New Orleans and have yet to be developed.?

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Appears to be a supply and demand issue as much as anything. Why is the government just sitting on property that could be generating revenue for the city?