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What
is NORA?
The New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA), formerly called the Community Improvement Agency (CIA), was created by La. R.S. 33:4720.51 et seq. to eliminate and prevent the spread of slums and blight in the City of New Orleans in accordance with Community Improvement Plans. Its powers include acquiring real property through negotiation, gift, or expropriation; disposing of said property by sale or lease; borrowing money; issuing bonds; and providing security to support slum clearance and neighborhood development.
For nearly thirty years, the CIA largely remained dormant and played only a minor role in the city’s redevelopment plans. In recent years, NORA has charted a new path. Revived from stagnation, NORA has demonstrated itself to be a formidable partner in obtaining site control of the city’s abandoned housing stock. Through its blighted property acquisition program, NORA has facilitated the expropriation and redevelopment of many of the city’s approximately 30,000 vacant and abandoned properties. Additionally, NORA has extended its redevelopment efforts by initiating the Real Estate Acquisition and Land-banking Mechanism (REALM). Under REALM, NORA works with other city agencies to acquire blighted properties in a strategic fashion and then bundle those properties for sale or donation. By focusing redevelopment efforts on a critical mass of properties within a circumscribed geographical area, REALM helps to leverage private and non-profit reinvestment in particular target neighborhoods.
As a result of Hurricane Katrina, the number of blighted properties in New Orleans is expected to rise from roughly 30,000 to well over 100,000. The magnitude of the devastation and the scale of the impending redevelopment effort require NORA to take an even greater role in rebuilding New Orleans’s neighborhoods. By initiating official Community Improvement Plans throughout the City and by fully utilizing its finance, property acquisition, and strategic planning capabilities, NORA will be assuming a lead role in the revitalization of this great city.
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NORA
New Orleans
Redevelopment Authority
1340 Poydras Street
Suite 600
New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
tel: 504-658-4400
fax: 504-658-4551
