Low income housing proposals

[jaguar]

Did anyone else attend the LCG meeting last night? I was there until 7 p.m. Sounds like there are many low income/Section 8 apartment housing projects being proposed--mainly on the Northside--and way more than normal (approximately 11 as opposed to the average 2 per year, I think).

The hurricanes of 2005 are being blamed.

Northsiders are opposed to more of these projects in their neck of the woods, and I don't blame them. And I doubt if you'll see much action on the southside. It could be a huge problem for our area. What's the answer?

[TBEAR]

I was not there but I watched it on TV and saw it too I think this is what I understood:

I dont know the builders name but listened to what he was saying about the developments he and his company builds then manages. In my opinion he and his company saw an opportunity to make money from a natural disaster.

He painted a pretty picture of what these things would eventually end up like after being built and then they screen everyone before allowing them to rent. Sometimes thats not the problem, some of the main problems are the visitors of the renters who move in unbenounced to the management. Then after several years, well I dont have to explain what happens at low income housing everyone here knows.

I am a southside resident and can agree with any northside resident that no one wants this type of the development next to their property because it will decrease the value. The thing that I think the federal government will do though is search for the cheapest piece of property to buy to put these things on, and as of today the southside property is more expensive per acre.

On a similar note there was little talk of it but right now there are no fema trailers in the city limits of Lafayette. There is a city ordinance that prevents anyone from putting a trailer or mobile home inside the city limits of Lafayette, which is why you dont see any in the city limits.

However there are numerous fema trailers in mobile home parks across Lafayette Parish that no one really knows about and Im sure these residents will recieve federal aid to move into these new complexes so fema can get back their campers and trailers. I think thats why when that business owner stated he has a time limit for the complex being built by 2008 if I understood correctly.

[cwhite]

I understand that the gov't is fiscally bound to go for the cheaper pieces of land, but damnit if I'm not pissed that once again the northside of town will end up with a load of crap to clean up in ten to twenty years. Put that d**n project at the corner of Ambassador and Kaliste Saloom!

Urgh. I know that's completely irrational. I'm just angry about it.

[coolcajun]

i wish they would not build it anywhere in Lafayette parish. we are losing our country feeling . no woods anymore. too many subdivisions. i don't know what were are going to do if this parish hits a low like the 1980's and this parish is just a bunch of houses with no one living in them.

this state is broke, but the building and growing has not stopped. where is all this money coming from.

[TBEAR]

These people that are building these new houses with an average cost of nearly $200,000.00 will find out when the bottom of this boom drops out. It cant go on forever like this so my suggestion to anyone wanting to buy a house is save your money,wait for little while, and give it time for the economy to fall apart then you can buy these houses at half the price. And the people that paid the original overpriced amount for the house will have lost it after exceeding their means of living and move into the new low income housing.

I also believe some of those people that are buying these 4, 5, and 6 hundred thousand dollar houses already owe their behinds off and are just getting more and more into debt.

I cant wait to see how they are going to sell or insure some of these homes in the flood zones, because on the new map you can see some of the subdivisions currently being built are now considered 100 year flood zones when they were shown as being high and dry in the old map. As it is the major insurance companies are hesitant or will not insurance people in Louisiana after the amount of money they paid out on the two major hurricanes.

[jaguar]

I'm no real estate expert, but you don't have to be to get sick at the prices of new homes in Lafayette Parish. Do you realize that most of the homes built in Greenbriar in the 1950s & 60s were around or under $50,000?

My children and I just finished crawling through a house being built in Avalon, right off S. College. The kids picked up flyers for a new house for sale in that subdivision. Guess what the list price is ... $119,900. It MUST be a typo. That wouldn't pay for the garage. If it isn't a typo, then it's one of the few reasonably priced new houses in Lafayette.

I agree that now is not the time to buy a new home. Prices are seriously inflated. Can anyone spell R-I-V-E-R R-A-N-C-H?

[cwhite]

Thank god no one in my family or circle of friends has been taken in by the plastic allure that is River Ranch. It's like Disneyland for the insecure. It creeps me out.

Anyway, we did it the old fashioned (and, admittedly, more frustrating) way. We bought very low, fixed it up ourselves and live fairly humbly. If the bottom ever falls out, the only thing with a lien on it is my new car.

[abbd]

Jag, I get into River Ranch often, and I'm amazed at how much this developement is begining to resembe parts of Kenner, Metairie and River Ridge(50 ft x 80 ft. lots). Cars parked on both sides of the very narrow streets, you're barely able to pass down the streets because of the cars, and the houses are built on top of each other. Now it looks like they are building thousands of apartments close to Kaliste Saloom. I have no idea why anyone would want to live bunched up like that. I wonder what the human to land ratio is in there? If this is "smart growth", give me good ole dumb growth.

[TBEAR]

I had to go in there the other day next to where the market is and they are having to redo all of the townhouses built next to the market because the rain is seeping into the siding and rotting most of the exterior walls. Good construction!!!

[zoe10850]

The fact is the cost of building has increased dramatically due to the shortage/demand for building materials, largely prompted by our efforts to rebuild the middle east (Iraq). Plywood, drywall etc have doubled. Then of course there were the storms.

Houses jumped almost overnight from 50-70 per foot to over 100/ft. A luxury hame of course is more. The worst part is people are paying the freight for this insanity.

[ronnief]

Let's build thousands of them and invite the homeless from NO,La to move here. Then Williams could be elected mayor, and Benjamin could be CAO. Sky is the limit.

[cwhite]

LOL!

[coolboy]

Why do these developments have to be placed in Lafayette at all? What about Abbeville, Crowley or Cecilia? Isn't land cheaper in those areas?

I'm all for everyone having a roof over their heads, but I cannot agree with this idea of placing this development on the northside. I'd hope that there will be some strict guidelines for the tenants when these apartments are up and running. No felons. Management must be notified every time the police are called to a residence. Zero tolerance of drugs on the premises. No unauthorized people residing in the household.

I know people that are landlords of Section 8 homes and there's always some extra people living at the residence that aren't supposed to be there. These people are normally the ones that sell drugs, steal from other residents, and loitering.

It is my wish that this development can become beneficial to the residents as well as the community and city of Lafayette.