Search Results
Resource
City of New Orleans, Louisiana: Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA)
January 2007
The Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA) was founded in 2007 to connect housing developers and organizations and community development corporations to rebuild and increase affordable housing stock within the city. GNOHA members meet monthly to exchange information and data, discuss opportunities and problem solve, and work together to connect applicable organizations, stakeholders, and policymakers to better achieve the vision of growing the affordable housing stock available to New Orleanians.
Resource Category: Organizations
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Overview of Selected Parishes’ Freeboard, Fill, and Open Space Rules and Projects within Louisiana’s Region Seven Watershed
May 18, 2022
As coastal erosion and the threat of major hurricanes and other flooding events continue to threaten Louisiana, parishes have begun to adopt jurisdiction-specific approaches to mitigating those risks. The establishment of freeboard requirements, no-net fill practices, and the incorporation of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), such as open spaces and native vegetation, are three major ways to prepare for and mitigate flooding. This brief entry provides a non-exhaustive overview of some of the ways five Louisiana parishes are using these approaches: Ascension, St. Bernard, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, and Tangipahoa.
Resource Category: Law and Governance
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana: Jefferson Parish Watershed Management Plan and Balancing Water Campaign
May 20, 2022
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana lies on a coastal floodplain of the Gulf of Mexico and has more water than land area. The parish is innovating to adapt to rising sea levels and more extreme flooding in the region, and created the Balancing Water Campaign to mitigate flood risk and improve its communities’ resilience. The approach to balancing water levels focuses on rethinking how to manage the impacts of stormwater and land subsidence to live with more water, while increasing natural drainage across the floodplain. The Jefferson Parish Watershed Management Plan was developed as a part of the Balancing Water initiative, to guide local decisionmakers with resilient floodplain management strategies for capital improvements, regulatory revisions, and land use, while emphasizing the use of green infrastructure and low-impact development. In addition, the parish is undertaking other complementary efforts like elevating flood-prone homes with the support of federal grants, and participating in the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System (CRS) program and a Jefferson Parish CRS Users Group to further local flood resilience initiatives.
Resource Category: Planning
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Ascension Parish, Louisiana and St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana: Conservation Planning and Zoning
May 20, 2022
Ascension and St. Tammany Parishes are two parishes or counties in Louisiana that are using planning and zoning to promote floodplain management and conserve green spaces. Each parish is contemplating how to preserve suburban and rural character through planning processes. In addition, each parish has crafted code language that allows it to conserve rural spaces by discouraging sprawl and floodplain development and by downzoning or decreasing developable density outside commercial centers. Ascension Parish Master Land Use Plan In 2019, Ascension released an updated version of its Master Land Use Plan, which was approved by the parish’s Planning Commission.
Resource Category: Planning
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Greauxing Resilience at Home — City of New Orleans, Louisiana: Gentilly Resilience District Projects
June 16, 2022
In 2015, the City of New Orleans released its Resilient New Orleans strategy outlining the city’s vision and plan for building a more equitable, adaptable, and prosperous New Orleans. The strategy outlines various recommendations, which all go towards one of three main goals: adapting to thrive, connecting to opportunity, and transforming city systems. One project featured in Resilient New Orleans is the Mirabeau Water Gardens project. Informed by the design and stormwater management features outlined in the Greater New Orleans Urban Water Plan, the Mirabeau Water Gardens project, once completed, will serve as a recreational, environmentally friendly amenity for the community that also reduces flood risk. Specifically, a former convent will be converted into a public green space. This project is part of an overall plan to create the Gentilly Resilience District — a 12-project program designed to make a small neighborhood in New Orleans more resilient to the impacts of climate change and future disaster and flood events. Additional projects a part of the Gentilly Resilience District include the Pontilly Neighborhood Stormwater and the Blue and Green Corridors projects. Throughout the development of the plans and programs relating to the Gentilly Resilience District, local policymakers offered numerous opportunities for community input. Most of the projects not only increase community resilience, but also offer new spaces for the community to gather, educate residents on the benefits associated with green infrastructure, and incorporate safe walking and biking paths throughout the neighborhood. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Greauxing Resilience at Home — St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana: Resilient Planning, Affordable Housing, Environmental, and Funding Initiatives
June 16, 2022
St. John the Baptist Parish is one of Louisiana’s oldest settled areas. The parish is water-adjacent and predominantly rural. Over the last decade, significant weather events have highlighted the flooding and other risks that come with proximity to both the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain, the latter of which borders the parish. The parish’s location in the path of New Orleans’s evacuation routes compounds the need to prepare for flooding and hurricane events. The parish has undertaken several initiatives to adopt development trends and patterns that will guide population growth in ways that make the parish and its communities more resilient to future rainfall and flooding risks. Namely, the parish developed a Comprehensive Land Use Plan in 2014 and a Coastal Zone Management Plan in 2016. Most recently in 2019, the parish partnered with the state and nonprofit philanthropy Foundation for Louisiana through the Louisiana Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments (LA SAFE) capital improvement process to create an Adaptation Strategy. Collectively, the plans offer a variety of principles, goals, and policies related to the parish’s growth and development. Those policies and development planning goals encompass prioritizing natural features, such as adopting green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) solutions and conserving open space, in addition to addressing the socioeconomic dynamics that come with planning for affordable housing. In general, the parish seeks to preserve low-density and conservation-oriented development trends across most of the parish, much of which is flood-prone. This approach will discourage floodplain and open space development by directing population growth and affordable housing investments toward drier, denser areas of the parish. These efforts are supported by public engagement, external partnerships, and federal and innovative funding sources. Other local policymakers working to address rural flood, population growth, and housing management issues can look to St. John the Baptist for their policies directing population growth toward denser, more urban areas. Those policies allow the parish to preserve rural and flood-prone areas and maintain parish character and reduce risk to homes and infrastructure. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Greauxing Resilience at Home — City of Denham Springs, Louisiana: Denham Strong Long-Term Community Recovery Plan
June 16, 2022
In August 2016, a historic flooding event severely impacted the infrastructure and people in the city of Denham Springs in Louisiana. In response to the flooding, the city worked with its residents to create a long-term recovery plan called Denham Strong. The goal of the plan to increase community resilience in the aftermath of the disaster. The plan lists various affordable housing and mitigation recovery projects under three main categories: (1) Flood Recovery; (2) Disaster Resilience; and (3) Community Development. Denham Strong is a guiding document with the ability to adapt to future changed circumstances in Denham Springs. Denham Strong is a noteworthy example of a recovery plan that encompasses community input, provides examples of projects for stormwater management, includes resilient affordable housing considerations, and keeps the community updated as projects are implemented. Other local governments impacted by disaster events can consider similar opportunities to supplement local comprehensive plans and engage residents with proactive thinking about building long-term resilience. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Greauxing Resilience at Home — City of Donaldsonville, Louisiana: Donaldsonville Strategic Plan 2020–2025
June 16, 2022
The City of Donaldsonville, Louisiana has developed a strategic plan for 2020–2025, which identifies eight strategic priorities to revitalize the city by fostering business development and increasing the city’s standard of living. Among other strategic priorities, the plan addresses: (1) Economic Development; (2) Workforce Development, Job Creation, and Training; (7) Housing, RV Parks, Campgrounds, Mobile or Manufactured Homes; and (8) Infrastructure Revitalization and New Development. Noteworthy recommendations include updating zoning ordinances, launching the Donaldson FIRST program for workforce development, updating aging infrastructure, enhancing mobility and resident’s connectivity to city centers and amenities, and growing green space. The plan was developed through a robust community engagement process that leveraged external support to supplement and expand limited government staff and resources. This plan can serve as an example of how regional and local planners and policymakers in smaller or rural jurisdictions can set and then implement an overarching vision across multiple sectors to address local challenges and increase overall social resilience in a coordinated way. Due to the intersectional nature of this plan, the recommended objectives also have implications on affordable housing and green space efforts, which are especially highlighted. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Greauxing Resilience at Home — City of Gonzales, Louisiana: Gonzales Comprehensive Plan
June 16, 2022
The City of Gonzales, Louisiana is located in the eastern part of Ascension Parish and centrally located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Facing increasing retail and commercial development, the city updated its local comprehensive plan to accommodate rapid growth. The Gonzales Comprehensive Plan was created in collaboration with Gonzales’s residents, city staff, various stakeholders, and Gonzales’s elected officials. In the plan, the city presents a clear strategic framework for the future growth of Gonzales. The city addresses Gonzales’s land use and urban design, mobility and transportation, housing, economy, quality of life and city services, and redevelopment of its downtown area. The plan’s affordable housing considerations include diversifying the options and affordability of the housing stock in Gonzales. The plan’s environmental considerations include emphasizing the city’s green spaces and community amenities and benefits, and reducing future flood risk/building overall community resilience. The plan is an example of a local comprehensive plan that addresses growth, while also balancing community needs and environmental conservation in an increasingly suburban area that is experiencing high demands for new development. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond.
Resource Category: Solutions
See Resource Login to Add to My Resource List
Resource
Greauxing Resilience at Home — City of New Orleans, Louisiana: Resilient Housing Prototype in the Seventh Ward
June 16, 2022
In the Seventh Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana, a local project team is planning to construct a resilient housing prototype that can adapt to changing conditions in a flood-prone neighborhood. Spearheaded by J.B. Holton and Associates and in partnership with Healthy Community Services and others, the prototype will create two affordable housing units in a duplex specifically dedicated for low- to moderate-income community members. The two single-family homes will be elevated above base flood heights and use hemp-based materials for insulation as a sustainable building material that is more resistant to moisture and pests than traditional insulation. The site will also be landscaped with green stormwater infrastructure features. Overall, this pilot project can be a model for other home developers and communities of what homes in Louisiana can look like to overcome negative stigmas around affordable housing and inspire future actions to increase local resilience in the face of flooding and economic challenges. This case study is one of 24 case studies featured in a report written by the Georgetown Climate Center, Greauxing Resilience at Home: A Collection of Lessons and Case Studies from Louisiana and Beyond.
Resource Category: Solutions
