CLAIBORNE AVENUE ALLIANCE DESIGN STUDIO
Photo: Amy Stelly
PICTURE AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR ALL
What has COVID-19 taught us about affordable housing? We’ve learned that it’s necessary for everyone’s health and well-being. It's medicine. It allows us to keep clean, enjoy proper nourishment, and protect ourselves from the transmission of disease.
Affordable housing was a casualty of urban highway construction. In New Orleans, hundreds of homes were lost. And the landscape of the city still speaks to that loss, especially when we find ourselves in the throes of a crisis.
What's most astonishing about these images is that they were photographed in the same place. The Claiborne Expressway obliterated hundreds of housing units, and homeless encampments grew in their place.
Affordable housing is a right, not a privilege. We need it for a healthy, well-balanced society. Most importantly, it would give our most vulnerable a leg-up in the fight for life. Decent housing is care for all.
URBAN DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS
Tell us what you think.
Photo: Historic New Orleans Collection