NONDC: Building Homes in the Wake of Katrina Give Una Anderson three or four weeks, and she’ll give you an affordable house, complete with architectural touches that make it distinctively New Orleans. Modular homes are just one part of the New Orleans Neighborhood Development Collaborative’s (NONDC) strategy to produce quality, affordable housing. The NONDC is a coalition of non-profit, private, and public community-based organizations created in 1996 to work collectively with neighborhoods throughout New Orleans. NONDC's mission is to reenergize the social, physical, political, and economic landscapes of New Orleans. They work to expand the production of quality, affordable housing and advocate for improved housing policies.
Soon after her aforementioned rescue mission, Anderson set up a NONDC office in Baton Rouge, though the staff of five was scattered around the country. All but one, who left permanently, returned to work. Anderson posed the question to her staff, “What addresses this that is real?” The answer, it turned out, were homes. They sold their first post Katrina home five months after the storm to a mother of two who works at the Winn Dixie grocery store. She was living in substandard rental property next door to what would eventually be her new home. NONDC is now trying to buy, renovate and re-sell the substandard property.
Staff reviewed data (including demographics, home ownership, and vacant lots) for ten neighborhoods and determined that an area known as Central City would be the best place to start Post Katrina. Not far from the gracious homes and aged oak trees of St. Charles Avenue and the Garden District, this perennially blighted area is certain to be within the footprint of the city. Anderson calls it “a challenging and wonderful neighborhood that is very driven by its residents.” Before Katrina the neighborhood’s residents had created a plan that included a resident driven organization called “The Central City Renaissance Alliance.” This group has led the charge since Katrina.
To date, the NONDC has built five houses in the Central City neighborhood. These homes started a domino effect and now four other nearby neighbors are renovating their homes. “Because we build them, others renovate,” Anderson comments. “It’s a symbolic action that gives others hope.”
