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Friday, Aug. 25, 2006

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NEW ORLEANS -- The city is staged for a sustainable recovery from Hurricane Katrina's floods but a lack of affordable housing and other challenges could impede its progress, a demographer said in a new report.

Average rents have risen about 40 percent, and the average selling price of homes in areas not affected by flooding rose about 25 percent since the storm, wrote Greg Rigamer, chief executive officer of GCR & Associates Inc.

The report was being presented to local officials Friday.

Rigamer said the city is addressing "fundamental" recovery issues.

But, "the success of the recovery will be measured by the investments made by our residents, businesses and institutions in our community," he wrote. "It is the role of our government to facilitate these investments through the provision of infrastructure and incentives for development."

Key to economic growth in the long-run: recovery programs and tax incentives in the billions of dollars, he said.

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