| Rebuilding Community Block by Block
Marsha R. Cuddeback
Frank M. Bosworth
This article reflects the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
In 2003, Louisiana State University's (LSU's) Office of Community Design and Development was awarded a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Outreach Partnership Center Community Futures Demonstration grant to investigate new prototypes for sustainable affordable housing. Following the devastation
of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the focus of the grant was shifted to developing a homebuilding training program for New Orleans residents that resulted in the construction of the first two, new post-Hurricane Katrina houses in the Lower 9 neighborhood on the north side of the Lower 9th. A construction team of previously unskilled workers and 13 fourth-year students in the undergraduate professional degree program in architecture at LSU completed the work. This enterprise
is discussed in the context of community participation, service learning, and the capital market for affordable housing in New Orleans at the time of the project. The demonstration project has not secured additional funding for continuation at this time; however, the process was deemed successful and the authors suggest six actions for replicating the program.
|
| 
