NEW ORLEANS — Four years after Katrina‚ population shifts in New Orleans neighborhoods are being driven by large-scale redevelopment projects as well as by disaster recovery‚ according to a new study from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center. The GNOCDC used media/marketing company Valassis' comprehensive mailing list database to compare active-address households in June 2005‚ June 2008 and June 2009 across New Orleans neighborhoods.
Nine neighborhoods still have less than half of the active residential addresses they did in June 2005, the study shows. But three of these‚ BW Cooper‚ Florida‚ and St. Bernard‚ encompass public housing sites that are being redeveloped from the ground up. On the other end of the spectrum‚ the neighborhood with the highest rate of "recovery" is the old St. Thomas public housing site that was in the middle of redevelopment when the storm hit. That neighborhood‚ now known as River Gardens‚ has more than double the households it had when the levees failed.
The GNOCDC map shows that five neighborhoods with new developments‚ including single family homes‚ apartments and condo buildings‚ now have more active addresses than they did in June 2005. These include McDonogh and Algiers Point on the West Bank‚ and the Central Business District‚ Gert Town‚ and St. Thomas [or "River Gardens"] on the East Bank.
"From this point forward it is going to be hard to talk about the population of New Orleans neighborhoods simply in terms of recovery from Katrina‚" says GNODC Deputy Director Allison Plyer.
Returning homeowners continue to be a driving force in many flooded neighborhoods such as Lakeview‚ Milneburg‚ St. Anthony‚ West End‚ Pines Village‚ Plum Orchard and Filmore. In these seven neighborhoods‚ recovery surpassed the 50% mark this past year.
But in the past year some rental units have been shut down and brand new rental housing has become available elsewhere‚ driving new gains in some neighborhoods and yielding losses in others. Foreclosures may also be leading to new vacancies in some neighborhoods. From June 2008 to June 2009‚ twelve neighborhoods lost more than 50 active-address households: Tremé/Lafitte‚ Broadmoor‚ Central City‚ West Riverside‚ East Riverside‚ Irish Channel‚ New Aurora/English Turn‚ Uptown‚ U.S. Naval Support Area‚ Viavant/Venetian Isles‚ Audubon‚ and Touro.
"Homeowners were the first to return and repopulate neighborhoods‚ but renters are more mobile and move depending on housing availability and attractiveness. As more new rentals become available‚ our population will grow. But it will also be important to monitor new vacancies and develop policies to address potential new blight‚" said Plyer. To see the results of the study, click here.
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