Power and the Politics of Rebuilding New Orleans
47 Pages Posted: 22 Aug 2013
Date Written: 2013
Abstract
Tension characterizes almost every part of housing policy’s political arrangement. A mostly white federal government creates and funds public housing, whose residents are mostly poor and racial minorities. State and local governments make funding and land-use decisions about public housing complexes. The intergovernmental nature of this policy means actors debate housing policies across, but also within, different levels of government. Local government wants control over the housing that stands in its jurisdiction; federal agencies, namely HUD, want to dictate how housing authorities use their dollars. Big business and developers press claims that public housing projects impede economic development; they offer mixed-income or scattered site housing and mobile housing vouchers in addition to commercial development on public housing land as alternatives to traditional public housing. Public housing residents and their advocates regard these pro-business reforms as intended to gentrify neighborhoods. The governance of public housing and the conditions of these facilities create and further tensions in cities. Once a disaster hits, these governing problems intensify. An examination of the rebuilding of New Orleans highlights these critical urban politics issues.
Keywords: Urban Politics, New Orelans, Housing, Disaster
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation