New Orleans is no longer the most blighted city in America, report finds
Published: Monday, August 20, 2012, 9:45 PM Updated: Monday, August 20, 2012, 9:46 PM
Since Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has consistently held the unwanted crown of most blighted city in America. That's no longer true, said Allison Plyer, chief demographer for the Greater New Orleans Data Center. A report released by the nonprofit agency on Monday shows that Detroit and Flint, Mich., had a greater percentage of dilapidated housing stock than the Crescent City, a first since the levees failed and drowned the city in 2005.
The new report by the Greater New Orleans Data Center estimated that 8,000 properties in New Orleans were repaired or rebuilt between September 2010 and March 2011, leaving around 21 percent of all properties blighted, compared with 27 percent in Flint and 24 percent in Detroit.
The new report estimated that 8,000 properties in New Orleans were repaired or rebuilt between September 2010 and March 2011, leaving around 21 percent of all properties blighted, compared with 27 percent in Flint and 24 percent in Detroit.
Youngstown, Ohio, a poster child of Rust Belt decline that has been further hammered by the recent recession, tied with New Orleans in the survey, followed by Cleveland at 19 percent and Baltimore at 14 percent. The study does not track blight in every city in America, but the researchers have monitored six of the U.S. cities most synonymous with urban decline.
In comparing New Orleans with other places, the report estimates there are roughly 43,680 blighted or vacant units here. But of those, about 8,000 are likely habitable, the report says, meaning the number of truly blighted lots and units is more like 35,700.
Plyer is quick to add that that number is a best estimate, and could be off by as much as 3,500 homes because there is no clear-cut, agreed-upon method to track blight in New Orleans.
Trash surrounds a vacant house on Baltimore Boulevard in Flint, Mich., on Monday. The city of Flint has suspended its blight elimination program this year after funding for the office ran out, officials said.
To compile the report, the center analyzed counts of working and non-working addresses reported by the U.S. Postal Service. A delay in releasing mail service data by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development led to the report's August release, Plyer said.
The report calls for a comprehensive blight tracking system for the city. "Only a massive operation that goes door-to-door to inspect every parcel in the city can provide an accurate count of the number of blighted properties in New Orleans," it stated.
The drop in blight is due in part to Mayor Mitch Landrieu's push to remove 10,000 blighted properties from the rolls by 2014, the report said. But blighted properties have been decreasing since March 2008, when 34 percent of the city's housing stock was uninhabitable, the report said.
Code enforcement conducted 23,000 inspections in 2011, bringing at least 800 properties into compliance through administrative hearings and likely many more through the threat of legal action, the report said.
A section of stores stand vacant in Detroit on July 27, 2011. Detroit's mayor unveiled a plan that could determine what the city looks like as it fights for vitality, announcing that neighborhoods will receive different kinds of services depending on the condition of homes, how many people live there and the level of blight.
Population growth, which naturally leads to the rehabilitation and sale of homes, is the main way blight is reduced, Plyer said. And the city been continuing to get bigger, thanks to its reasonable cost of living and a local job market that is steadier than the national one -- as well as the slow trickle of people returning after the Katrina diaspora.
"We're doing better than the rest of the nation, but it's not like we're in this booming economy," Plyer said.
The report warned that if population growth slows, so could blight reduction. Through surveys in recent months, Plyer said the data center found residents who have fixed up their homes are becoming less tolerant of homeowners who have let their storm-damaged properties fester. "People were saying, 'O.K., this is blight," she said.
But while some neighborhoods, such as Pontchartrain Park and parts of Gentilly, have seen a reduction in blight, others haven't changed much. Central City, for instance, has shown little improvement since 2010, according to the data center.
Charmaine Baker-Fox of the Central City Partnership agrees with that finding, saying she's seen little if any progress in her neighborhood. She said lower-income residents simply don't have the means to repair their family homes, making blight nearly intractable.
"I would love to see someone, the city, anyone, come in and rehab our houses, to make them the way they used to be," she said. "Now don't get me wrong. I don't want them to give us something. We want to be a part of what's happening in the city."
The new report by the Greater New Orleans Data Center estimated that 8,000 properties in New Orleans were repaired or rebuilt between September 2010 and March 2011, leaving around 21 percent of all properties blighted, compared with 27 percent in Flint and 24 percent in Detroit.Youngstown, Ohio, a poster child of Rust Belt decline that has been further hammered by the recent recession, tied with New Orleans in the survey, followed by Cleveland at 19 percent and Baltimore at 14 percent. The study does not track blight in every city in America, but the researchers have monitored six of the U.S. cities most synonymous with urban decline.
In comparing New Orleans with other places, the report estimates there are roughly 43,680 blighted or vacant units here. But of those, about 8,000 are likely habitable, the report says, meaning the number of truly blighted lots and units is more like 35,700.
Plyer is quick to add that that number is a best estimate, and could be off by as much as 3,500 homes because there is no clear-cut, agreed-upon method to track blight in New Orleans.
Trash surrounds a vacant house on Baltimore Boulevard in Flint, Mich., on Monday. The city of Flint has suspended its blight elimination program this year after funding for the office ran out, officials said. The report calls for a comprehensive blight tracking system for the city. "Only a massive operation that goes door-to-door to inspect every parcel in the city can provide an accurate count of the number of blighted properties in New Orleans," it stated.
The drop in blight is due in part to Mayor Mitch Landrieu's push to remove 10,000 blighted properties from the rolls by 2014, the report said. But blighted properties have been decreasing since March 2008, when 34 percent of the city's housing stock was uninhabitable, the report said.
Code enforcement conducted 23,000 inspections in 2011, bringing at least 800 properties into compliance through administrative hearings and likely many more through the threat of legal action, the report said.
A section of stores stand vacant in Detroit on July 27, 2011. Detroit's mayor unveiled a plan that could determine what the city looks like as it fights for vitality, announcing that neighborhoods will receive different kinds of services depending on the condition of homes, how many people live there and the level of blight. "We're doing better than the rest of the nation, but it's not like we're in this booming economy," Plyer said.
The report warned that if population growth slows, so could blight reduction. Through surveys in recent months, Plyer said the data center found residents who have fixed up their homes are becoming less tolerant of homeowners who have let their storm-damaged properties fester. "People were saying, 'O.K., this is blight," she said.
But while some neighborhoods, such as Pontchartrain Park and parts of Gentilly, have seen a reduction in blight, others haven't changed much. Central City, for instance, has shown little improvement since 2010, according to the data center.
Charmaine Baker-Fox of the Central City Partnership agrees with that finding, saying she's seen little if any progress in her neighborhood. She said lower-income residents simply don't have the means to repair their family homes, making blight nearly intractable.
"I would love to see someone, the city, anyone, come in and rehab our houses, to make them the way they used to be," she said. "Now don't get me wrong. I don't want them to give us something. We want to be a part of what's happening in the city."
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Richard Rainey can be reached at rrainey@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7052.