The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority and its affiliate New Orleans Redevelopment Unlimited have launched the New Orleans Housing Investment Program, a new initiative designed to channel private development capital toward the city’s remaining stock of NORA-owned vacant properties and convert them into affordable housing. Applications opened on July 6 and will be accepted through August 6, 2026, with development partners expected to be announced later in August. NORA is hosting a virtual information session on July 22 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. for prospective applicants who want an overview of program requirements and an opportunity to submit questions before the July 29 deadline for written inquiries.
The program invites private real estate developers to apply for the opportunity to acquire and develop NORA-controlled properties, with affordable housing as the required use. NORA has assembled its portfolio through years of purchasing and accepting blighted, tax-delinquent, and abandoned properties across Orleans Parish, and the agency says it has sold nearly 1,000 properties in support of affordable housing development across the city since its founding. The new program groups properties to encourage contiguous development, with the intent that developers building on multiple adjacent lots can create neighborhood-scale impact rather than isolated individual projects.
“Homeownership remains one of the most effective ways to build generational wealth and strengthen neighborhoods,” said Brenda M. Breaux, NORA’s executive director. “The New Orleans Housing Investment Program is about transforming vacant properties into quality homes, creating new opportunities for working families, and continuing the reinvestment happening in communities across the city.” Applications must be submitted electronically through NORA’s WebGrants portal by the August 6 deadline, and completed applications will be reviewed ahead of the August partner selection announcement.
The launch of NOHIP comes as the city and its redevelopment agencies are accelerating their efforts to deploy the approximately $17 million annual affordable housing allocation created when New Orleans voters approved a Housing Trust Fund charter amendment in November 2024. That fund dedicates at least 2 percent of the city’s general fund revenues to affordable housing each year, to be administered jointly by NORA and Finance New Orleans. The new housing investment program reflects NORA’s broader shift toward structured developer solicitations rather than individual parcel sales, an approach meant to create more predictability for private partners trying to underwrite affordable development in a market where construction costs and insurance premiums have risen sharply in recent years.
For private developers active in the affordable housing sector — particularly those working with federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Community Development Block Grant funds, or HOME Investment Partnerships funding — the NOHIP program offers a structured pathway to acquire city-owned vacant lots without navigating the open market. The site-grouping strategy is also likely to draw interest from mission-driven developers and community development financial institutions that have been active in New Orleans neighborhoods in recent years. NORA has not disclosed which specific properties or neighborhoods will be included in the first NOHIP solicitation; that information is expected to be released as part of the formal application package available through the WebGrants portal.
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