Document Type

Report

Publication Date

12-12-2010

Abstract

The Homeowner Impact Study was undertaken by the students of the MURP 4081/G “Information Technology for the Planning Profession” course led by Dr. Michelle Thompson in order to evaluate both the condition of houses that were purchased by Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) Homeownership program participants and the economic impact of this affordable housing within the New Orleans, LA market. The goal of the NHS program is to revive and rejuvenate the city of New Orleans by increasing homeownership and to identify vacant and substandard properties for targeted revitalization. The students of this geographic information sciences class are contributing to this goal by helping NHS assess, and report on, the economic impact of the program. This report is a comprehensive inventory of homes that were purchased, and often partially financed through the Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans from January 2006 through December 2010. There were 145 homes purchased within Orleans Parish through NHS’ Homeownership program. A site survey was conducted for each of these properties, in order to get information such as house and block condition. Once all the information was collected and verified, a comprehensive table was made, which was then converted into a shapefile1 in order to spatially represent the properties that were studied. Being able to locate these properties on a map is a vital step in identifying which neighborhoods of New Orleans benefit the most from the NHS Homeownership program. The outcome of the survey indicated that many of the properties purchased through the program are in excellent condition compared to the majority of the adjacent properties. The NHS houses consistently appeared to be the “lead” houses on their respective blocks, meaning that these houses were well-maintained, and were indicators of successful rejuvenation throughout the blocks and properties surveyed. This study will help the Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans substantiate their role in the ‘road to recovery’ citywide It is the belief of NHS that increasing homeownership within the city will increase civic pride, and strengthen the ability of the City of New Orleans to come back stronger from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina five years ago. The findings of this report on financing and condition information of the houses in the NHS program may help the city appreciate how successful certain revitalization programs have been.

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