Hurricane Katrina's winds had hardly subsided before ACORN began organizing New Orleaneans to rebuild their beloved city on their own terms. Today, ACORN's national headquarters in New Orleans houses more staffers than ever and ACORN members are fighting to ensure the city's recovery. Though thousands of Katrina survivors are still displaced, the last year has seen a series of significant wins for ACORN in New Orleans and the struggle continues to fully resurrect the Crescent City.

Lower 9th Ward on the rise

ACORN members did not allow officials to give up on the Lower 9th Ward.

ACORN and Lower 9th Ward homeowners in March celebrated a historic victory when New Orleans leaders announced the neighborhood, along with New Orleans East, would be the beneficiaries of $145 million in rebuilding dollars. The landmark announcement marked a 180-degree change of heart for city officials, whose planning consultant in November 2005 advised them to force Lower 9th Ward homeowners to sell their property and consign the flood-prone neighborhood to wetlands. Helping to influence that decision was ACORN's January report, "The People's Plan for Rebuilding the Lower 9th Ward," the result of a collaboration with ACORN Housing and Columbia, Cornell and Louisiana State universities that included thousands of interviews with residents, a survey of more than 3,000 structures, 300 businesses and 300 households.

Efforts continue to prevent bulldozing homes in storm-damaged neighborhoods. Meanwhile, ACORN members and their allies in July demanded equitable flood protection for all New Orleans neighborhoods by forming a mile-long “human levee” along the Monticello Canal, part of an ongoing campaign to ensure full and fair flood protection for all city residents.

ACORN mobilizes to replace affordable housing stock

ACORN members pose with Josephine Butler outside of her new storm-resistant home.

ACORN and ACORN Housing are working to make a return to New Orleans possible for all hurricane survivors. ACORN in February handed the keys to the first new homes to be rebuilt in the Lower 9th Ward since Katrina to longtime neighborhood residents Josephine Butler and Gwendolyn Guice. The new energy-efficient, storm-resistant houses designed by professors at the Louisiana State University School of Architecture represented the neighborhood's rebirth, a process ACORN continues to champion.

Butler and Guice were not alone in moving back into permanent housing in the Lower 9th Ward this year. ACORN partnered over the summer with workers representing Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers to rehabilitate the home of Cleveland Turner, who celebrated his homecoming after nearly two years in a FEMA trailer. ACORN Housing is also set to redevelop about 150 adjudicated homes in low- and moderate-income New Orleans neighborhoods including the Lower 9th Ward. Work is expected to begin on the first group of properties in September.

ACORN preserves thousands of homes for rebuilding

Thousands of volunteers have helped save New Orleans homes.

In response to a post-Hurricane Katrina city ordinance requiring that homeowners gut and preserve their damaged property or face demolition, ACORN launched in December 2005 its Home Clean-Out program, matching volunteers with homeowners to gut homes throughout the city. To date, the program has preserved more than 2,500 homes with the help of 15,000 volunteers from around the country and beyond.

ACORN this year began a lawn maintenance program for displaced residents to protect them from city-imposed fines on overgrown yards and also launched a lead-paint remediation program. In recent months, ACORN has begun taking on small, short-term rehabilitation projects for homeowners with storm-damaged property. Whether hanging a door or installing a window, hooking up ceiling fans or mounting Sheetrock, ACORN volunteers provide free labor for New Orleaneans in the process of rebuilding their homes and neighborhoods. Learn how you can volunteer with ACORN's home preservation programs.

ACORN holds government accountable for Katrina relief

Katrina survivors made their demands clear in Washington, D.C.

Through a January lawsuit, ACORN forced the Federal Emergency Management Agency to better describe to Katrina victims why they were losing FEMA housing assistance and reversed FEMA's decision to cancel benefits to more than 1,000 households. Later, ACORN counted as a major victory the Bush Administration’s decision to transfer the jurisdiction of housing assistance funds for hurricane victims from FEMA to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Now, ACORN is fighting to ensure seamless delivery of this crucial funding to eligible Katrina survivors.

Meanwhile, ACORN is working to secure passage of the Senate's version of the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act of 2007. The bill would help eliminate funding shortfalls in the Louisiana Road Home program for homeowners seeking to rebuild, replace thousands of units of affordable housing, create new homeownership opportunities, help spur economic development, continue housing assistance to displaced New Orleaneans and beef up accountability for all funds spent. Click here to tell your members of Congress to support this important legislation.

The fight to return and rebuild continues

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf region, ACORN quickly began fostering communication among displaced residents and fighting for better disaster assistance. With the support of many friends and allies, we have preserved homes through our gutting program, organized for the right to return and rebuild and provided a national voice for displaced families through the national ACORN Katrina Survivors Association.

Click here to read a report about ACORN’s work to recover and rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.

We ask for your continued support in these efforts.

Rebuilding New Orleans

ACORN has released the “Planning Principles for the City of New Orleans,” a detailed set of recommendations for policymakers and planners on how to rebuild “a New Orleans with a place for everyone.” The ACORN Planning Principles document is a result of an extensive, community-based research project conducted with the support of ACORN Housing, Cornell University, Pratt Institute, Louisiana State University, Columbia University and New Jersey Institute of Technology. ACORN Housing has recently been selected as one of the city’s official district planners to assist residents with developing neighborhood plans. ACORN Housing will be working closely with ACORN member neighborhoods.

In addition, ACORN is helping our members save their homes, rebuild their community, and return to their neighborhoods by:

Creating the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association, the first nationwide organization of displaced New Orleans residents and other Katrina survivors.

Launching the Home Clean-out Demonstration Program in December 2005. The project has gutted and stabalized over 1,850 homes.

Organizing the ACORN Community Forums on Rebuilding New Orleans to develop rebuilding plans for New Orleans that speak to the needs and dreams of the city's low and moderate income residents.

Helping hundreds of displaced Katrina survivors in states next to LA reach satellite voting centers in Lake Charles, Shreveport, and New Orleans, Louisiana to cast their ballots in the 2006 Mayoral election.



Helping residents develop community-based plans to rebuild their neighborhoods with partners such as Pratt University, NY; New Jersey Institute of Technology, Cornell University, LSU and Columbia University.

ACORN is continuously finding new ways to help our members and their communities. If you want to find out more about how we can help you get back on your feet, visit our New Orleans office web page here, or call us at 1-800-790-2290.