New Orleans’ Musicians’ Village is a close-knit artist community and an affordable housing initiative undertaken in response to the massive urban devastation and residential displacement caused by levee failures during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Located in the Upper Ninth Ward, one of the areas worst hit by the storm, the Musicians’ Village stretches over three blocks with a series of over seventy colorful shotgun houses.
Acclaimed musicians from New Orleans spearheaded this housing development to bring musicians back to the city. They partnered with the non-profit organization New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH), an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, whose mission is to bring together people to build—and rebuild—homes and communities.
Since its establishment in 1983, NOAHH has built over 600 affordable homes in New Orleans using a sustainable model of zero-interest loans and sweat equity in place of traditional down payments. As hurricane-damaged areas have historically paved the way to gentrification, NOAHH has helped contrast this trend.
