Louisiana Housing Lab seeks city help to build four affordable homes in West End

Advocates for affordable housing and the Louisiana Housing Lab on Tuesday asked the New Iberia City Council to back a four-unit homeownership project aimed at the West End neighborhood.

The ask came from Anat Zahnemann, a Hopkins Street resident and business owner, and Corey Saft, executive director of the Louisiana Housing Lab and a professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Zahnemann said the project is intended to support neighborhood revitalization and to supply affordable, high-quality homes near recent commercial and streetscape investment.

“The money is sitting there, and we are assuming it’s going forward,” Saft said of state funding secured through the Louisiana Housing Corporation. He described the development as “four, three-bedroom, two-bath” units built to high standards, including fortified roofs that, if feasible, could qualify for reduced insurance rates.

Zahnemann and Saft said the roughly $1 million project is primarily funded through Louisiana Housing Corporation programs for small-scale community housing development organizations (CHDOs). Saft said the project has passed environmental review and the site was cleared. He asked the council to help by waiving building, mechanical, electrical and plumbing permit fees to serve as part of the project match and to help publicize the opportunity so qualified buyers apply.

Saft described buyer eligibility as constrained: income limits are set by household size, and, for example, a five-person household must have gross income at or below $53,700 to qualify. He explained the financing uses a soft second mortgage that is forgiven after 15 years, making monthly payments affordable — typically set at about 30% of gross income.

Zahnemann said the lab will contribute roughly $100,000 of proceeds from another affordable house sale as the bulk of its required 10–15% match and that the group is seeking donated building supplies and other local support.

Council members and staff raised logistics: Councilmembers asked how soon construction could start (Saft said closing with prospective buyers could happen within about a month, with construction of all four units happening simultaneously and build-out about six months after start) and whether the nonprofit would consider buying and redeveloping dilapidated properties (Saft said CHDO programs sometimes support acquisition of adjudicated or dilapidated lots).

Why it matters: City staff and council members emphasized the West End’s ongoing commercial and streetscape work and said small, repeated infill homeownership projects could complement broader neighborhood investment. Zahnemann urged council members to connect potential buyers to the project and to consider fee waivers as a modest but important local match.

What’s next: The presenters left flyers and contact information with the mayor’s office and asked the council to promote the application window. Saft and Zahnemann said they will return with updates as they approach closing and as the state announces future application rounds.