New homes hope to redevelop Mid City

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Renovations to come to 34 homes in Mid City directed to help lower income families.

In a neglected neighborhood just a few blocks from Government Street, abandoned homes line America and Brice Streets. “There are differences in neighborhoods, but we believe that everybody should have an affordable place to live,” says Kathy Laborde who is the president and CEO of the Gulf Coast Housing Partnership.

It’s Laborde who wants to turn around this run-down street.

“They had not performed well as assets, so we took them over and basically have been just holding onto them until we could put the capital stack together to renovate them,” explains Laborde.

It’s called the Government Corridor. The goal is to remodel 34 homes near the main drag of Government Street. The renovated homes will be for lower income families that might struggle finding a reasonable place for rent in a good area.

“We have limitations due to the financing we use. Then we hold certain rent limits, they are based upon a person’s income. So, we do that, we honor that on all of our developments, and it’s an array of incomes,” added Laborde.

The company picked the location because of the nearby amenities, multiple businesses and the proximity to Dufrocq Primary.

According to the East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority, creating affordable housing in a location that has transportation, schools and jobs helps working class families have a better quality of life.

“What would distinguish what we are doing is we are just renovating the units to a quality living standard. It shouldn’t matter what the rent is, you should be able to live within a quality habitable standard,” said Laborde.

Crews will start working on the houses this week and will hopefully finish within the next 12 months. The company will start leasing out homes 60 days out form when they are finished.

You can go to Gulf Coast Housing Partnership if you are interested in learning more about the projects.

If you want to see more affordable housing in EBR Parish, you can go to EBRPHA.

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