On the ground in New Orleans: aided by NAA's efforts, the local apartment community was successful in pressing the Louisiana governor to lift an executive order that prohibited evictions.

As the plane touched down at Louis Armstrong International Airport, the group from the National Apartment Association (NAA) was filled with uncertainty. Just 60 days prior, the worst natural disaster in modern American history had ripped apart the Gulf Coast; NAA was in New Orleans to help.

In approximately six hours, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) would lift an executive order that had prohibited evictions, among other things, which had hindered the efforts of property owners to clean up and resume business operations after the storm.

A month earlier, under the guise of the public interest, Blanco's executive order effectively kept apartment owners from mitigating damages and cleaning up tens of thousands of vacant apartments in a city where housing was a desperately needed commodity.

The NAA contingent included NAA President Tom Day, CAPS, whose firm, Hepfner, Smith, Airhart & Day, operates apartment communities in New Orleans; NAA Executive Vice President Doug Culkin, CAE; NAA Counsel John McDermott; NAA State & Local Policy Manager Freeman Smith; and Public Relations Consultant Stacey Kerans.

A vast skyline of blue roofs was the first thing Cullkin noticed when flying into the ravaged city.

"Everywhere you looked, people had blue tarps covering up the holes," Culkin said. "It really gave you a sense of just how extensive the destruction was." Many of the tarps were the result of Operation Blue Roof, an Army Corps of Engineers program that installed the protective rooftop covers, which could be seen on at least 50 percent of the community. As of Oct. 2, approximately 15,000 tarps were in place. By the end of October, that number had climbed to 50,000.

Addressing the Needs

The primary purpose of NAA's visit was to meet with board members of the Apartment Association of Greater New Orleans (AAGNO). The meeting included a private meeting between board members and the NAA representatives and was followed by a media event where the press could hear property owners and managers air their grievances and share real-life stories.

Those attending the private meeting were confused by the eviction situation. Under Louisiana law, property owners must work through the courts to evict residents. And without an eviction order, they were unable to enter or clean their properties or mitigate the loss. Because of this, tens of thousands of wet apartment units were sitting in the sun day after day in up to 90-degree heat. These conditions allowed mold to grow fervently. Blanco's eviction order tied the hands of property owners.

Beyond the damaged and destroyed units, there were also thousands of apartments that were unaffected by the hurricane, but whose residents had fled the area and not paid rent or contacted management for two months. These units were effectively taken off the market by the governor's executive order.

Horror stories were told. Apartment owners talked about instances where residents thought the governor's order meant that they didn't have to pay rent. Others talked about the pressures they felt from insurance companies to get into their apartments to mitigate damages or loss coverage. Still others were told by some residents that FEMA had said it had to inspect damaged property before assistance would be issued. All of this combined to worsen the housing crisis in New Orleans.

The media event included representatives from local television stations in addition to NBC Nightly News and New Orleans' largest circulation daily newspaper, The Times-Picayune.

AAGNO board members, Association Executive Tammy Esponge and Day handled the questions with skill and made sure that the message was heard: The governor's eviction ban was ill-conceived and actually making the New Orleans housing crisis worse. After the meeting ended, the media conducted several one-on-one interviews with NAA members. After the interviews, the NAA contingent embarked on a tour of three damaged apartment communities.

Witnessing Destruction

The most heavily damaged of the apartment communities toured was a Volunteers of America Community called Wind Run in East New Orleans. East New Orleans had the aura of a ghost town; the loss experienced there was unlike anything this group had ever seen.

Electricity had not returned and, consequently, neither had any people. As the group toured the apartment community there was an overwhelming sense of tragedy and an eerily pervasive similarity to the set of a movie of untold destruction.

Pulling into Wind Run, the group was greeted by the sight of abandoned cars in the parking lot, trash, debris, a nearly demolished entry gate and a visible water line 4 to 5 feet high on the sides of buildings. The abandoned cars were ashen, a visible indication that they were recently engulfed in seawater. They littered the lots of motels, gas stations and storefronts as sad reminders of the hasty and frightful evacuation of just weeks earlier.

Inside the apartments, the stench was nauseating. It had been nearly two months since Hurricane Katrina came through, but the still-soggy carpet squished with each step, a reminder of the extent of the damage. Thick pockets of mold dominated the walls, cabinets and furnishings, like algae on the surface of a pond. Furniture was toppled and bore the telltale signs of water damage. In one apartment, a coffee cup sat on a counter still half full as if the owner was forced to leave in the middle of a morning ritual. It was impossible to tell, however, exactly what the dark, murky liquid in the cup was.

After viewing the properties, the NAA contingent took a driving tour of the city. They saw the Convention Center, where the NAA Education Conference was supposed to be held in June 2006 and where thousands sought refuge in the wake of Katrina. They saw the cruise ships set up by the federal government to house evacuees and relief workers. They saw the streets where looters ran rampant and the auto dealerships where cars were "commandeered" by authorities (an investigation of which is still pending).

During the driving tour, Culkin's cell phone rang. After a few affirmative nods, he turned to the other passengers in the red Jeep. "The governor is going to lift the eviction ban," he said.

The contingent responded with cheers and whoops and high-fives all around. But those were quickly shushed. "It's a reporter from the Associated Press," Culkin admonished.

The reporter asked if Culkin would take credit for the coup. "Absolutely not," Culkin responded. "This is the result of all the hard work of the local apartment community that has been talking about this issue for weeks and putting pressure on the governor to rethink this ill-conceived policy."

Later that night the NAA contingent discussed the future of the New Orleans' housing situation. All agreed that it is unclear why Blanco reversed course on the evictions issue when she did. But it was safe to say that weeks of hard work by Louisiana apartment industry leaders, combined with the presence of the national press at a well-staged media event, all played a part. While the decision was a win for apartment owners, it was an even bigger win for the rebuilding and recovery of a great city.

Freeman Smith is NAA's State & Local Policy Manager. He can be reached at 70.3/51 & 614I Ext. 106 or [e-mail].

Friendship and Brotherhood A Real-Life Story

David Abbenante, President of New Orleans-based HRI Properties. told a story of brotherhood that he said he believed illustrated the tremendous value of friendship and membership in the apartment association. HRI is a full-service real estate firm that owns several apartment communities and hotels in the New Orleans area.

Abbenante said that when he realized New Orleans had been so terribly affected by the hurricane. his company made the decision to temporarily relocate its offices to Houma. La., a small town approximately 50 miles from New Orleans.

Abbenante said after evacuating to Houston. he left Houston the day after New Orleans began to flood and went to Houma to lease an office and find apartments for his staff and their families.

"I headed to Houma with no place to stay, hoping to find a roadside hotel or just sleep in my car if necessary," Abbenante said.

On the way to Houma, Abbenante contacted the President-Elect of the Louisiana Apartment Association Michele Claudet. who he knew owned several apartment communities in Houma.

"Michele told me that he would extend any units available at his communities and any future vacancies to help relocate our staff," Abbenante said. Claudet even insisted that he stay at his hotel in Houma that evening.

"I later found out that the hotel was sold out due to the recovery workers in the area and Michele actually gave up his room in the hotel and stayed at his home which was without power." Over the following three days, Abbenante was able to locate an office, lease apartments and open for business when most firms were just starting to plan their first steps.

Special Legislative Session

Faced with the prospect of rebuilding the Gulf Coast amid a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall, the Louisiana state legislature convened a special session on Nov. 6. Scheduled to run through Nov. 22. lawmakers addressed everything from the budget gap to education.

Two bills are of special interest to the apartment industry. HB 86 would freeze rent during states of emergency under state anti-price-gouging laws. This bill has been tabled until the regular session.

HB 88 is a temporary measure that is more favorable to property owners and addresses abandoned property. The bill would allow property owners to enter leased property, make repairs and either store or dispose of a resident's property until June 30. The bill mandates that the resident bear the expense of disposal or storage and requires that the resident be given 10 days' notice. The legislation also provides that the unit can be assumed abandoned if the resident has failed to pay rent and failed to inform the property owner of his intention to remain in the unit within 30 days from the date that the affected area was declared available for inspection by the local governing authority.

As of press time, HB 88 had been amended to mandate that property owners photograph the property before disposing of it and was awaiting full consideration in the Senate. For the latest on HB 88, contact the NAA Government Affairs Department at 703/518-6141, Ext. 117, or visit www.legis.state.la.us/.