FTB05: redevelopment 8.15.12

Affordable Housing Institute is a group that works to increase affordable housing ecosystems worldwide by providing financial advice and other resources to small localized housing groups, policy makers, and other "pro-poor entities."   AHI tells the story of the Cape Town, South Africa's Joe Slovo township and its redevelopment after a 2009 fire destroyed 500 shacks and left 1500 people homeless (also see parts two, three, and four).

In a storyline relevant to our recent discussions of New Orleans' and St Louis' public housing approaches, AHI also recently posted a 4-part article on public housing post-Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas.   The Cape Town, Galveston, and New Orleans situations are all tied together in that they were all prefaced by large disasters.

Palace Hotel being imploded in New Orleans: eminent domain in

Lower Mid-City for greenspace within the LSU/VA hospital footprint

The 2005 supreme court case of Kelo v. City of New London comes up often as setting precedent for eminent domain used in redevelopment, urban renewal, or whatever you'd like to call it.  The Kelo case redefined "public purpose" for eminent domain as including economic development, based on precedents set by Berman v. Parker and Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff.