Housing

International Advisory Group on Forced Evictions Mission to New Orleans

NESRI's Housing Program organized and facilitated the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE) fact-finding mission to New Orleans in July 2009.  

AGFE investigates and reports on instances and allegations of forced evictions around the globe.  The body is comprised of housing rights experts from around the world and reports directly to UN-HABITAT, the UN agency charged with human settlement.  AGFE defines “forced evictions” in adherence to the human right to housing framework and includes development-based eviction as a form of forced evictions.  After a series of conversations with members of AGFE, NESRI submitted a formal request to the body to conduct a fact-finding mission to New Orleans, which was subsequently approved.  The New Orleans’ visit marked AGFE’s first fact-finding mission to the United States. 

During the fact-finding mission, independent experts from AGFE (which included NESRI’s Housing Program Director and a member of our partner May Day New Orleans) traveled to affected communities across the city, focusing on three principal issues:
  • the demolition of public housing;
  • the displacement of Mid City residents to make way for the Louisiana State University hospital; and
  • growing homelessness.       

The international delegation  investigated violations of residents’ human right to housing through the forced eviction of thousands as part of the city’s ongoing post Hurricane Katrina redevelopment.  During the weeklong mission, the delegation met with diverse communities in New Orleans – those that had either been the victims of forced evictions or were facing imminent evictions.

In planning the visit, NESRI’s Housing program worked with UNITY for Greater New Orleans, the Louisiana Justice Institute, Loyola Law School, Advocates for Environmental Human Rights, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services and the Committee to Reopen Charity Hospital, to name a few, to organize site visits that would demonstrate for the AGFE mission the widespread impact of the city’s rebuilding process.  We also arranged a town hall meeting where close to 200 residents gave testimony before the AGFE members.  The delegation also met with local and federal government officials to discuss their preliminary findings.    

The forced evictions investigated during the mission to New Orleans come as a result of a rebuilding process that favors private sector interests over the interests of residents. This emphasis on private sector development is being felt across the country with devastating effects, especially during the current economic crisis, which has its roots in the housing sector. While post-Katrina redevelopment policies have had a disproportionately adverse impact on poor and low-income African American communities, the ongoing lack of affordable housing, and the evictions to make way for private sector development, is a significant issue for all residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

The investigation was covered by local news station WDSU. Watch the clip here.

 A final report on the mission is forthcoming.