the levee

NY Times: Rental shortage in New Orleans continues

The NY  Times covers the rental shortage in New Orleans.  While the take-away is that it is unfortunate that rental rates have increased by 46% over pre-Katrina levels, it should be remembered, as the article states, that this situation exists because "demand is outpacing supply."

So, people want to live in New Orleans, but are constrained by high rental rates.  This is far preferable to a city that no one wants to live in with an oversupply of cheap housing (see Buffalo).  We can solve a shortage (theoretically), we wouldn't be able to solve an oversupply.  This is a positive, and we'll all just need to be patient while development and rehabilitation of affordable housing occurs.

T+L in New Orleans

The November 2007 issue of Travel+Leisure includes an extensive feature on New Orleans, touching on topics ranging from food to the recovery to new developments in New Orleans.  Written by Peter Jon Lindberg, the article provides a fair assessment of the state of New Orleans today, and hopefully inspires some who may not have considered New Orleans to take a trip down.