(The Center Square) — The New Orleans Office of Housing Policy and Community Development is asking the City Council to shrink its operating budget next year after federal pandemic aid wound down and temporary pay programs ended.
In a presentation Wednesday, the office proposed a $118.5 million operating plan for 2026, down from $147.4 million adopted for 2025 — a cut of $28.8 million driven almost entirely by the expiration of federal Emergency Rental Assistance money. General-fund dollars, which the office receives to represent residents in eviction cases, would also drop from $2.39 million this year to $1.30 million in 2026.
The Emergency Rental Assistance grant that funded the office was authorized under the COVID-era American Rescue Plan.
Deputy Director of Transactions Zivah Bauman told council members the department is “100% grant funded,” with most revenue coming directly from the federal government.
Bauman said personnel spending will fall because “the (Emergency Rental Assistance) grant expired… that grant allowed for us to provide our staff with temporary pay.”
The office administers federal funds, mostly from U.S. Housing and Urban Development, across six units — planning, neighborhood services, affordable housing, environmental compliance, intake and construction— to finance housing, rehabilitate properties and support community facilities.
Tyra Johnson Brown, the office’s director, warned that uncertainty around federal timelines could ripple through city services.
“The 2026 allocation from HUD has not been received yet… If we do not get a 2026 allocation, that would impact the entire operations of (Office of Community Development),” Brown said.
With Treasury grant funding exhausted, “emergency rental and utilities assistance will be eliminated,” which the office expects will increase evictions and utility shut-offs.
Staffing would hold roughly steady — 48 budgeted positions in 2026, up from 47 this year — but with lower personnel costs because the temporary grant has ended.
The office’s request caps a volatile five-year swing fueled by pandemic dollars.
Its budget rose from $82 million (2021) to $126 million (2022), then $163 million in the final adopted 2022 budget. Federal money has dominated ever since: $121 million of $156 million in 2023, $74 million of $101 million in 2024, and about $68.9 million for 2025, largely from U.S. Housing and Urban Development.
