How would New Orleans mayoral candidates ease housing costs, combat population loss?
By Sophie Kasakove
Source: The Times-Picayune | Nola.com
September 9, 2025
Property insurance costs have homeowners on the brink of foreclosure. Lots slated for new rental housing sit empty as financing falls short. Renters suffer through poor conditions with little recourse.
The picture is stark in New Orleans, a city once ideal for people living on the cheap that has grown increasingly unaffordable for many.
All three major Democratic candidates in the Oct. 11 mayoral election agree that housing affordability is one of their biggest priorities, especially as high housing costs have contributed to driving more than 28,400 people out of Orleans Parish since 2020. Last year, it was the nation’s fifth fastest-shrinking county with more than 100,000 residents, according to U.S. Census estimates.
The field includes state Sen. Royce Duplessis, City Council Vice President Helena Moreno, the presumptive front-runner, and City Councilmember Oliver Thomas. Moreno has notched double-digit leads over her opponents in various polls.
As the race heats up, the candidates have offered various solutions for the famously complex problem — from helping homeowners install stormproof roofs to drive down premiums, to rehabbing blighted properties, to streamlining the process of approving new projects.
Residents and advocates say delivering on those promises is paramount, if the city is to retain its existing population and lure in newcomers.
“My concern is that we are losing ground, we’re not gaining ground, and we’re not even holding our own,” said Terri North, CEO of affordable housing developer Providence Community Housing. “Things like insurance have created these huge barriers for developers and owners… I’m not in a place where I think we’re on a good track.”
State of housing
With residents’ frustration about the city’s affordable housing shortage mounting, Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration revved up efforts to tackle some pieces of the multifaceted problem.
A new Office of Homeless Services cleared high-profile homeless encampments in the city and has moved more than 1,250 people into housing as of July, according to officials. (A state contractor moved over 100 more people into housing at Gov. Jeff Landry’s request.)
A Housing Trust Fund voters approved last year will dedicate millions of local tax dollars annually to housing affordability programs beginning in 2026. And the city has begun to enforce controversial new permitting regulations for short-term rentals, designed to make more units available for residents.
A spokesperson for Cantrell did not respond to a request for comment.
But many residents remain frustrated. Even as officials move people off the streets, homelessness is up, from 1,198 people on a single night in 2017 to 1,362 in 2024.
That’s not to mention soaring property insurance costs, which increased by 60% between 2020 and 2024, according to a data analysis by The New York Times. Hundreds of homeowners have received state grants to upgrade their roofs to a fortified standard, which can lead to premium discounts, but little help is available locally.
High insurance and high construction costs have also stalled affordable housing developments like the Faubourg Lafitte, where construction kicked off last month after years of funding delays.
Meanwhile, rising rents have forced some residents, like Joseph Brock, to find a cheaper life elsewhere.
“The rent was just going up and up and up,” said Brock, who had been living in New Orleans with his mother, brother and other family and friends for two years while he attended school. With just his disability check and his mother’s salary as a janitor, it was the best they could do.
Now, Brock shares a two-bedroom apartment in Houma with friends for $850 a month. He said he misses his family in New Orleans, but doesn’t plan on moving back anytime soon.
“There’s more to living than just paying rent and paying utilities,” said Brock.
Housing development, money
At forums, campaign events, and in their platforms, the candidates have repeatedly touted the need for more affordable homes.
Duplessis has said housing is “the defining challenge facing this city.” He has made the grandest promise: producing 40,000 additional units — just under the 55,000 housing advocates say is needed — over 10 years.
In an August interview, Duplessis said he would aim to renovate blighted homes and roll out new incentives to encourage private sector development.
In an email, Thomas committed to build and preserve 10,000 housing units over eight years. That goal is “based on what it would take over the next eight years to stabilize our housing market, close that affordability gap, and give families a real shot at staying in the neighborhoods they love,” he wrote.
Moreno has said that the city needs 55,000 additional affordable units, citing affordable housing nonprofit HousingNOLA.
“New Orleans will be a stronger and more resilient city, when more people can live in places they can afford with access to jobs,” her campaign platform reads.
Andreanecia Morris, director of HousingNOLA, said that the candidates’ proposed targets are “feasible and necessary” but require “working with the banks, working with other agencies.”
The single biggest obstacle to building new housing, added North, the Providence CEO, is wrangling federal funding, both from the city and from the state in the form of federal low-income housing tax credits. Developers typically sell the credits, which are awarded by the federal government, in exchange for capital for their projects.
In response to a survey by the Bureau of Governmental Research, a good government nonprofit, Duplessis wrote that he would “cooperate with whoever I need to bring (low-income housing tax credits) back to our city.”
Moreno said in an email to the Times-Picayune that she would streamline the process of distributing the city’s housing funds to developers. Thomas said that he would use public land to drive housing production.
The candidates all said that they support the new Housing Trust Fund — which will dedicate 2% of the city’s general fund to housing initiatives beginning in 2026 — and that they would develop clear metrics to evaluate how the money is spent. They also said the Safety & Permits department should approve affordable housing developments in shorter order.
Insurance, homelessness, renters
After insurance on Gwendolyn Hanhart’s small rental in Holy Cross doubled over the last five years, she said she had no choice but to raise the rent. When her old tenants moved out last year, she raised one side of the double from $865 to $1,300 and the other from $1,100 to $1,500.
“That’s probably the prime example of what should be affordable housing, and it’s getting to be that it can’t be,” said Hanhart.
Insurance costs, coupled with challenges dealing with the city’s permitting office, is putting the city’s remaining affordable housing stock at risk, Hanhart added.
Duplessis, Moreno and Thomas all said they would work to expand efforts to help install fortified roofs on homes throughout the city, in hopes of bringing premiums down and protecting homes from storms.
In each of the past two years, Duplessis introduced bills — both of which failed — that would have mandated that insurance companies grant minimum discounts of 20% for homes with fortified roofs. While the mayor has no regulatory authority over insurers, Duplessis has said that as mayor he would work to install fortified roofs on a quarter of the city’s homes.
Moreno said she would launch a new “Department of Insurance Justice” that would “provide expert advice on saving money on insurance” and “offer subsidies for fortified roofs.”
Thomas said he would “fight for roof fortification grants” and “work with state partners to hold insurers accountable.”
On homelessness, Duplessis highlighted as progress the closure of major encampments like along Claiborne Avenue.
“It’s not about reinventing the wheel, it’s just (about) keeping it turning,” said Duplessis.
In an email, Moreno took a harsher tone, saying that as mayor she would propose “a full review of homeless provider UNITY to ensure they are fulfilling their role,” referring to homeless services organization UNITY of Greater New Orleans, which has clashed with Cantrell administration officials in recent years.
Thomas said that he would “expand reentry and addiction recovery support” and “make sure mental health services are available.”
Moreno also highlighted her record on efforts to keep residents in their homes. A 2022 city law she sponsored codified renters’ right to counsel when fighting their landlord in court, while a 2023 law removed the nonprofit status of landlords that let their properties fall into disrepair.
Duplessis said he would raise salaries in the city’s code enforcement department to fill long-vacant jobs and help the city address blighted properties more quickly.
Morris, the affordable housing advocate, said that Moreno and Thomas failed as council members to protect tenants when they approved a watered-down version of the city’s Healthy Homes program, which requires landlords to register their properties with the city and submit to regular inspections.
The version they approved lacks a proactive inspection process, she said. She also blamed them for failing to allocate funds to move residents out of dangerous homes.
Tackling the housing crisis “requires consistency and will and vision,” said Morris. “The next mayor must do that — not just talk about it, but actually do it.”
Fair Use Notice
This site occasionally reprints copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues and to highlight the accomplishments of our affiliates. We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is available without profit. For more information go to: US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.