Razing Lafitte Defending Public Housing From a Hostile State

Problem, research strategy, and findings: The contentious politics of the demolition of Lafitte public housing in post-Katrina New Orleans and its replacement with mixed-income properties is a telling case of the strategic conflicts housing advocates face in public housing revitalization. It reveals how the qualified outcomes of HOPE VI interact with local institutional and historical circumstances to confound the equity and social justice goals of housing and community development advocates. It shows the limits to public housing revitalization as an urban recovery strategy when hostile government leadership characterizes a region, and the state is recast as an adversary rather than revitalization partner. This case is part of a longer ethnographic project on post-Katrina New Orleans recovery. Takeaway for practice: Housing and community development advocacy for urban revitalization strategies is limited without a supportive state partner to endorse and smooth programmatic efforts. Public housing revitalization, especially the legacy and derivatives of HOPE VI, is imbued with multiple, often conflicting meanings and expectations across its range of stakeholders. Nonprofit housing advocates charged with integrating revitalization schemes in communities with historic government-civil society conflict can expect resistance and challenges from both the state and civil society actors. Research support: Portions of this research were supported by The Social Science Research Council and the Harold Horowitz Fund at MIT.