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Race and class make for a complicated mix in this region. Proposed low- or mixed-income developments have met with staunch opposition all over the New Orleans area, in both predominately white suburbs and in primarily black neighborhoods in the city limits.
A development of 35 single-family, lease-to-own homes in the black middle-class neighborhood of New Orleans East was blocked by the New Orleans City Council in August. The arguments against it — that it would damage property values and quality of life — were similar to those heard in St. Bernard. The developer, a New Orleans native living in Atlanta, is considering a discrimination lawsuit, even though almost everyone on both sides of the issue is black.
James Perry, executive director of the housing center and a candidate for mayor of New Orleans, said class animosity might be at the root of much of this anger, though discrimination against the poor is not a violation of the Fair Housing Act. It is illegal to discriminate against minorities, however, and given that a disproportionate number of those who need affordable housing in the area are black, he said, these arguments almost inevitably involve race.