New Orleans: Reprieve won on housing demolition

A reprieve that temporarily halted the demolition of low income housing in New Orleans was won in court on Dec. 14. The attorneys representing tenants and those representing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Housing Authority of New Orleans came to an agreement that the demolition would not go ahead before the City Council had public hearings and made a ruling.

Protest Dec. 15 in New Orleans.

By New Orleans law public housing cannot be demolished without first being approved by the City Council, yet HUD and HANO had colluded to destroy thousands of low income units by granting no bid contracts to well-connected firms. The HUD secretary and others are currently being investigated for corruption.

The court challenge on Dec. 14 was made after tenants’ lawyers discovered the law and filed a lawsuit. It is reasonable to assume that the willingness of HUD and HANO to defer to the City Council was motivated by the poor legal footing on which they stood when they came to the agreement. They might also have more faith in the willingness of the new majority-white City Council to accede to their intentions in the long run.

The following is an excerpt from a statement sent out by The Coalition to Stop the Demolitions. The full statement is posted at brownfemipower.com.

WW photos: Anne Pruden

“We are fairly certain that at least three of the white City Council members are going to vote against us, including Jacquelyn Clarkson, Stacy Head, and Shelley Midura. There is a possibility that Arnie Fielkow, the current Council President, might vote in favor or abstain in order to not lose favor with a sector of the Black electorate whom he will need to fulfill his Mayoral aspirations. As for those who may stand with us, there are likely only two members who are solid. These are James Carter and Cynthia Willard-Lewis. The third Black Council member, Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, is definitely a critical swing vote. We need to put pressure on each and every one of these City Council members between now and the 20th (please stress outreach to Internally Displaced Persons in your area and encourage them to call as a priority).

“In addition, the Federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the residents of the St. Bernard was transferred from Washington, D.C. to the US District Court—Eastern District of Louisiana. Based on his past behavior, we do not expect this judge will do anything to stop the demolitions.

“What this means is that by Friday, December 21st we may realistically be engaging in our second wave of mass non-violent civil disobedience action. Should this be the case, we are going to need all of our allies and supporters everywhere to be ready yet again to take decisive action to stop these inhumane demolition orders.”

The individual city council members can be contacted at the following email addresses: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected].