Mayor Landrieu, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan commemorate ground breaking of Iberville HousingRedevelopment and Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (City of New Orleans)

City of New Orleans
(10/21/2013 6:43 PM, City of New Orleans)

VIDEO. NEW ORLEANS, LA – Today, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was joined by HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), and City and State officials to commemorate the ground breaking of the redevelopment of the Iberville Housing Development and to launch the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI). Iberville was originally constructed in 1941 and is New Orleans’ last standing conventional public housing development.

In 2011, HANO and the City of New Orleans were awarded $30.5 million from HUD to transform the Iberville development and to revitalize the historic Tremé neighborhood as a part of CNI. New Orleans was one of five cities to receive an Implementation Grant in its inaugural round.

“The revitalization of the Iberville housing site and the implementation of HUD’s $30.5 million Choice Neighborhoods Initiative will reenergize Iberville and Tremé,” said Mayor Mitch Landrieu. “The construction of new, low, moderate, and market rate housing complete with retail, school, and public space improvements will strengthen these important neighborhoods that are at the heart of our city. By connecting residents with wrap around services like high quality resources, programs, and training in workforce development, education, health, and transit, New Orleans will stand as a national model for redeveloping urban neighborhoods. This project will create better housing, safer streets, and economic development.”

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said, “Today’s groundbreaking represents another chapter in the great New Orleans comeback story. New Orleans was one of the first cities to receive a Choice Neighborhood grant, totaling roughly $30 million dollars, to help redevelop Iberville. This program embodies the President’s holistic approach that not only focuses on housing – but also the issues in the surrounding neighborhood. With this and other investments we are saying loud and clear that we believe in New Orleans, its people, and its future.”