Christopher Homes Projects
| Christopher Park Homes Housing Development | |
| New Orleans Neighborhood | |
| Nickname: "Da Chris" | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Louisiana |
| City | New Orleans |
| Coordinates | 29°55′34″N 90°04′21″W / 29.92611°N 90.07250°WCoordinates: 29°55′34″N 90°04′21″W / 29.92611°N 90.07250°W |
| Area | 0.27 sq mi (0.7 km2) |
| - land | 0.23 sq mi (1 km2) |
| - water | 0.04 sq mi (0 km2), 14.81% |
| Population | 450 (2004) |
| Density | 1,667/sq mi (644/km2) |
| Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
| - summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| Area code | 504 |
Christopher Homes, also known as Christopher Park Homes, was a public housing project in Algiers, New Orleans, operated by HANO, with originally 200 townhouse style units which opened in 1971.[1]
History
After Press Park was built, construction on HANO's last development was finished in 1970 and would open a year later to African-American families. It would be celebrated as the nation's first rent-to-own public housing project.[2] Since the complex first opened, disgusted homeowners have been driven away by Formosan termites and rotting wood left under the complex's flat roofs. Families also fled in the 1980s after a ceiling collapsed on a girl's head and a roof leak caused an electrical short that set a boy's bed on fire. Due to the poor living conditions pest became a major problem for residents living in the Christopher Homes. There have been numerous reports about large rodents known as "Neutral Rats" rooming though the buildings and outside but HANO refuse to get the buildings fumigated. It wasn't until early 1992 when the news labeled it as an outbreak after a kid was bitten on the leg by a rat.[3] For years residents complained to HANO about the poor conditions of the project but their requests where ignored. The development also attracted drug dealers and soon later it became ground zero for Heroin and crack cocaine. Dealers would set up shop in the vacant apartments and make deals in the grassy lots where kids would play in. By 1994 the project was dominated by drugs and crime and was one of HANO's "Poorest Developments". In 1995 a vote was pass to demolish the project, it was the third housing project the city planned demolition on. Christopher Homes made national headlines in 2003 when a teenage girl was stabbed to death during a block party.[4] At that time Christopher Homes was severely run-down with only 150 units occupied as the rest were demolished or boarded up and abandoned. Several years before Hurricane Katrina, HANO, for reasons unknown, quit leasing the complex's vacant apartments. By 2005, only 80 units were occupied.[5][6] In April 2013 The demolition on Christopher Homes was complete.[7]
Notable people
References
- ↑ "Christopher Park Homes Projects - New Orleans, Louisiana". wikimapia.org. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
- ↑ "Housing Authority of New Orleans wronged Christopher Park residents: An editorial | NOLA.com". nola.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
- ↑ Lance, Wynnfild (February 23, 1992). "Large rat outbreak in Algiers housing project".
- ↑ Gettleman, Jeffrey (11 July 2003). "New Orleans Struggles With a Homicide Rate That Belies Its Size" – via NYTimes.com.
- ↑ "Algiers' Christopher Park blight has no easy answers".
- ↑ "Housing Authority of New Orleans wronged Christopher Park residents: An editorial".
- ↑ "Officials witness demolition of Algiers public housing complex".
- ↑ "Where They At: New Orleans Hip-Hop and Bounce in Words and Pictures. Aubrey Edwards and Alison Fensterstock. New Orleans 2010". wheretheyatnola.com.