Maya Rodriguez / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS - On a tour of the Iberville Housing complex on Tuesday, federal Housing and Urban Development officials got an up close view of what is there now and what could be coming in the future.
"The Iberville will be the sort of the center of it, but the project is much bigger than Iberville," Housing Authority of New Orleans Administrative Receiver David Gilmore.
The HUD site visit is part of a nationwide competition: six cities, including New Orleans, are vying for $120 million in federal grant money, through the "Choice Neighborhoods Initiative." The plans include the redevelopment of the Iberville complex into a mixed use community.
Yet, as HUD officials toured one side of the complex, protesters gathered on the other side.
"This is the only affordable housing they have left," Sharon Jasper told the dozen people who gathered.
Right now, there are more than 840 public housing units at Iberville, but if the redevelopment plan goes through, only 300 will remain public housing. Barry Diaz wonders if he'll be able to stay in his home.
"I don't want to see them tear it down," said Diaz, who has lived at the complex for 10 years. "I don't want to see them put nobody out of it. Who does that benefit?"
However, officials say the project will be different-- and handled differently-- than the redevelopment of the former big four public housing complexes. For one thing, the redevelopment would be on a much larger scale-- stretching beyond the Iberville complex and into the surrounding neighborhood-- from Tulane Avenue, east to Saint Bernard Avenue, and from North Rampart Street, up to Broad Street.
To get the federal grant, there must be a one for one replacement of the public housing units. Iberville residents who don't get a unit back on complex site, would end up in another unit within the neighborhood redevelopment boundary.
Already HANO, under control of HUD, managed to secure options on 2,300 housing units within the boundary. If all goes as planned, within the next decade, Gilmore said it could potentially lead to a whopping $600 million in housing redevelopment in that neighborhood alone.
"We're talking about retail, we're talking about rejuvenation of the theater arts," Gilmore said. "We're talking about dealing with housing blight in the neighborhood, which is pretty significant."
It is a project that could end up changing the landscape of the city, as much as the proposed University Medical Center.
"It's almost as big, but it's another transformative project," Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. "I continue to remind the people of New Orleans, we have become the nation's most immediate laboratory for innovation and change."
Change won't come easy, though. Even if the city receives the grant, getting the rest of money for the project may take years of effort. HUD is expected to announce in August, which cities will get the grants. Depending on how many cities are chosen, the amount could range between $30- and $60 million.
