Musicians' Village renters face 3x rent hike
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Homes in the Musicians' Village in 2013. Photo: Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images
Some New Orleans culture bearers will see their rent triple next year after Habitat for Humanity sold several Musicians' Village rental properties to a new landlord.
Why it matters: The community was developed in the post-Katrina years as a way to provide affordable housing for musicians.
The big picture: Habitat for Humanity's New Orleans affiliate sold 32 properties in scattered locations across the city to Sam Madi of Stable Housing LLC for $1.7 million, Gambit's Kaylee Poche reports.
- Among those properties were four buildings comprising eight rental units in the Musicians' Village.
- The 72 other Musicians' Village homes are owner-occupied and were not part of the sale.
By the numbers: After the late September sale, Musicians' Village renters were informed their rents would begin to increase Jan. 1 with new rates taking full effect in March, the Gambit reports.
- Habitat says Musicians' Village tenants have paid $300–$500 per month since they moved in. Now, the Gambit reports, the rents will rise to $1,100–$1,200 per month.
- Madi's business model makes maintaining the original rates untenable, the weekly newspaper reports.
What they're saying: Habitat for Humanity sold the rental units to refocus on its core mission, which involves building and selling affordably priced homes with interest-free mortgages, says executive director Marguerite Oestreicher.
- Selling the rental properties, which are a mix of single and double homes, directly to tenants wasn't a viable option, Oestreicher says. "The economic reality is that people who have been renting at dramatically reduced rent are not going to have the means to purchase," she says.
- Habitat rental tenants were welcome to apply for homeownership through the nonprofit's usual process, she notes, and some have done so over the years.
State of play: New Orleans City Council members have since called for increased transparency over Habitat's decision to sell the Musicians' Village rental units and raised concerns over previous funding the city provided to the nonprofit.
- But that funding, Oestreicher notes, was specifically to assist current homeowners — not rental properties.
- Because Habitat owned the Musicians' Village properties outright, it did not need city approval for their sale.
- Other rental properties involved in the sale but are not a part of the Musicians' Village were built with city and federal funding, so those maintain tenant income constraints under their new ownership, Oestreicher says.
What's next: City Council Member Eugene Green is holding a community meeting on the rental property sale Thursday at 1:30pm at St. Josephine Bakhita Catholic Church.
- Meeting invites have gone out to Musicians' Village residents, Habitat, Madi, the Housing Authority of New Orleans and the city's Office of Community Development, Green's office says.
- Oestreicher says she's not yet sure if Habitat will participate, though the organization is working with Stable Housing to help smooth transitions for tenants.