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NEW ORLEANS -
Leading up to the city's general election on November 18, 2017,
the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA) offered candidates a final opportunity to complete a questionnaire on the organization's Put Housing First platform. Earlier this year, GNOHA encouraged all New Orleans City Council, mayoral and state treasurer candidates to acknowledge the affordable housing crisis and the Put Housing First platform. GNOHA also secured the commitment of thousands of registered voters to support the organization's advocacy, ensure the implementation of the 10-Year HousingNOLA Plan and demand that leaders prioritize safe, affordable, healthy housing for all in New Orleans.
GNOHA developed a platform for candidates to respond to and shared those initial results with the public on September 21, 2017. The platform included a candidate questionnaire and policy proposals, like the Healthy Homes Ordinance, adding more dollars to a Neighborhood Housing Improvement Fund and addressing tax relief for low-income homeowners who face increased property assessments and property owners who wish to create affordable housing units.
That platform was re-distributed to certain candidates on Wednesday, November 8, with responses due back to GNOHA by Friday, November 10.
Of the eight surveys that were distributed to remaining candidates, GNOHA received five responses from LaToya Cantrell (Mayor), Desiree Charbonnet (Mayor), Jay Banks (Council District "B"), Seth Bloom (Council District "B")
and Derrick Edwards (Treasurer), averaging around
65 percent or a "D"
letter grade. Those results are as follows:
-
Derrick Edwards for T
reasurer
received an average score of 82.5 ("C" letter grade)
-
LaToya Cantrell for M
ayor
received an average score of 76.5 ("C" letter grade)
- Desiree Charbonnet for Mayor received an average score of 78 ("C" letter grade)
-
Seth Bloom for City Council
District "B"
received an average score of 37.5 ("F" letter grade)
- Jay Banks for City Council District "B" received an average score of 47.5 ("F" letter grade)
John Schroder, candidate for State Treasurer, declined a response as well as City Council District "E" candidates James Gray and Cyndi Nguyen.
A recent poll
commissioned by Enterprise with funding from HousingNOLA, the Power Coalition and the Greater New Orleans Foundation, showed likely voters ranked affordable housing as the second most important issue they would like to see New Orleans' next mayor and City Council address. Of those surveyed, 93 percent agree or strongly agree that access to affordable housing is important for the local economy.
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The
Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA) is a collaborative of non-profit housing builders and community development corporations working to rebuild the housing stock available in the city of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city's infrastructure. Since its creation in 2007, GNOHA has sought to create change in the Greater New Orleans community through public policy advocacy and public education. The collaborative advocates for the preservation and production of affordable housing for people within the Greater New Orleans metropolitan region and places a special emphasis on the needs of the most vulnerable in society - seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, low-wage workers and low-income families.
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