Housing Wasn't Always a "Moon Shot"

Living in New Orleans, we know there is a dire need for centrally-located housing across all income levels, so I experienced a lot of cognitive dissonance (or more than usual) reading the quotes in this Times-Pic article about the River District:

First phase of River District apartments will consist mostly of units for low-income renters

Despite a backlog of nearly 1 million apartment units under construction nationally, the highest since the 1970s, developers are delaying new project starts, signaling that future market-rate development is being significantly constrained, according to the National Association of Home Builders, a trade organization.

Shawn Barney, who runs CLB Porter, an affordable housing consultancy that is part of the RDNI consortium, said they had to sharply scale back their initial targets because of the economic conditions for residential construction. "Out of the gate we were ambitious and really were trying to shoot for the stars," Barney said. "But we landed on the moon."

Why on Earth would it require a "Moon Shot" to provide something we know is in high demand?Perhaps because in this case, and many cases, we are trying to bite off the problem in chunks of 210,000 SF at a time.  When we put all of the burden of providing place on gigantic moon shot developments, we limit those who can hope to build - and benefit - to those who have matching gigantic resources.  But we are currently seeing the effectiveness of this “only all at once” approach.

Things that should NOT be a Moon Shot:

• Returning a 3 or 4-plex into service as an income generating property.

• Converting an unused garage or accessory into an apartment.

• Converting unused upper floors into apartment rentals.

These are the things that created the sea of gentle density that is New Orleans, a sea that was violently and holistically diluted during and after Hurricane Katrina, and its return has faced bureaucratic and political hurdles that have left the bulk of the work to the real estate consortiums of the world.

We need to ease these hurdles of crippling zoning limitations, "Loud Neighbor Distortion" (those heard at public hearings are often represent the minority available and energetic enough to attend after a hard day's work), and then find economic advantages where we are able to as the larger forces of costs and rates swing as they may.

If you feel like moving forward with your property is like orchestrating a trip off the planet, I get it - there's a daunting pile of a thousand little always-changing codes and laws and hearings, but we've been wading through that pile for decades because we love figuring out what to do with things in our cities besides bulldoze and pave.  And if you look around, projects ARE moving forward - tapping into that pent up reservoir of housing demand is too enticing.  Also, the state of Louisiana offers a fantastic carrot in the Historic Tax Credit incentives that can close the gap opened by rising costs and rates if you have an existing building in almost any urban heart in the state.

Let us help you make a plan and give you the tools to get your property's value-generating heart beating again.