Council approves one-year extension for 2100 Royal Street affordable-housing project after months of delays

The New Orleans City Council approved a one‑year extension of the conditional‑use approval for an affordable‑housing development at 2100 Royal Street, moving the project closer to construction after years of delays.

Council members voted to grant the extension after a public hearing in which housing advocates, the project's developers and neighborhood residents described competing views about whether more time was warranted. Supporters said federal reviews and rising construction costs forced the delays; opponents urged the council not to allow indefinite extensions of conditional uses on property left vacant for years.

Why it matters: the project would produce deeply affordable units long promised to the community after Hurricane Katrina, and speakers said further delay would prolong a shortage of permanently affordable housing in New Orleans. Opponents countered that repeated extensions create uncertainty for neighbors and risk gentrification and displacement.

Developers and housing advocates told the council the extension is needed to finish federal and historic‑preservation approvals and to close financing. Nicole Webber, representing the developer and the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), said: “The cause for the delay was all the processes…