It Takes a Village? - The Habitat for Humanity and Musicians' Village Situationship smdh

🚨 IN THE RED ALERT: IT TAKES A VILLAGE? 🚨

The Musicians' Village was one of the most celebrated rebuilding projects after Hurricane Katrina. Built by Habitat for Humanity with support from Harry Connick Jr., Branford Marsalis, national donors, celebrities, and politicians, it was hailed as a model for preserving New Orleans culture through affordable housing.

But nearly 20 years later, rising insurance costs, the sale of subsidized rental units, and questions about long-term sustainability have residents and advocates asking difficult questions -- The situationship is over! 

Did nonprofits focus too much on building homes and not enough on building lasting support systems?

In this episode of Philanthropy N The Black, Celly Cel examines the Habitat for Humanity Musicians' Village story through a nonprofit lens, exploring mission alignment, sustainability, affordable housing, and what happens when the cameras leave.

Topics Include:

The origins of Musicians' Village
Post-Katrina fundraising and celebrity involvement
Affordable housing vs. affordable living
Insurance challenges facing homeowners
Habitat's sale of rental properties
Nonprofit mission drift vs. mission discipline
Why preserving culture means supporting culture bearers

#PhilanthropyNTheBlack #NewOrleans #MusiciansVillage #HabitatForHumanity #AffordableHousing #Nonprofits #Katrina #NewOrleansMusic #Fundraising #InTheRedAlert #Philanthropy #CommunityDevelopment #Podcast #NonprofitLeadership #HousingCrisis #CultureBearers #Louisiana #SocialImpact #MissionDriven #HousingJustice

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to another episode of Philanthropy in the Black. You know me, I'm your boy Sally Stell, New Orleans officials, where we talk about nonprofits and we hope to try to keep them in the black socially, morally, financially. This is going to be our in-regulation. And here it is. This episode is not just about affordable housing, it's not just about musicians or even habitat for humanity. This is about what a nonprofit, when a nonprofit creates a solution that gets international recognition, millions of dollars in donations, celebrity endorsements, and political photo opportunities, but never fully answers the question what happens 20 years later. Ooh. This has to do with an article I read recently. Really been following the last few years as it relates to the organization Habitat for Humanity and what they have done here in New Orleans. Listen, great organization. Nothing bad to say about and before we go there, let me you're asking why I look like this. Michael Jackson movie, he-Man movie, don't judge me. Alright, alright. And and I might go see Scary Movie, The Wayne's Brothers back. But I digress. This episode of Philanthropy in the Black, by the way, we gotta applaud ourselves in. Now, I know a lot of people out there are very familiar with Habitat for Humanity, right? But it's different here in New Orleans in a way that I'm gonna break down for you, and I hope you understand. And by the way, this is an official in the red. You hear that? I know you're listening, you hear it, but if you're watching, you see, this is an in the red alert because while I work to try to help nonprofits stay in the black, this right here is an in-the-red alert. And the in the red alert is when we're doing the opposite of staying in the black, right? So let me break this down for you succinctly so you understand where we're about to go with this. This city of New Orleans, where I have the privilege and honor and blessing of being born and raised, is known for three things, people. We are known for three things, right? And it's not what you think. Get your mind out of the gutter. You're nasty, all right. New Orleans is known for its architecture without a without a question. People come here to see this French, Greek, Italian, uh, so on and so forth, influenced architecture of what New Orleans is. That's one, all right. Number two, the food. People come here for the food. Number three, of course, is the music. People travel from around the world, literally, to experience these things. And and I'm not gonna shite. See, I didn't cuss. I'm not gonna shite on other parts of Louisiana. We got the Cajun with the Budan and the we got north for whatever they do and central, whatever they do, Zydeco, I don't know. But nobody's ever said I'm saving for vacation to visit Baton Rouge. Shots fired. But to stay on track, when it comes to the architecture, architecture, you know, we have dozens of public agencies, private organizations, and nonprofits protecting historical buildings. They're all over the place, right? And when it comes to the food, yummy, yummy, gumbo, red beans, you throw a rock, you could hit a restaurant in any direction. And I'm talking about good restaurants. I'm talking about Michelin-rated restaurants. Did I say that right? Yeah. But when it comes to preserving the musicians who make the city famous, who's protecting them? That's what we're talking about today. Now, listen, to be fair, we got many organizations doing great works. Look, look, look. New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, the Musicians Clinic, a very dope organization. Go check them out. Countless community organizations. But today we're talking about one organization that got national praise for helping musicians in this city. And listen, listen, listen. We're gonna get into this, y'all. And if you're watching, you can see this if I do it right. We're talking about Habitat for Humanity, who went and created this musician's village, y'all. It was beautiful, but I need y'all to bring that ass to the front because listen, when I say this was a beautiful concept, this was a beautiful process. I have nothing but good things to say about Habitat for Humanity, but we're gonna talk from a nonprofit perspective because that's what we do on this episode. Back in 2006, right? I want y'all to remember, come back with me in the time machine. Katrina, everything is devastated, city is horrible, people are leaving, like infrastructure is shy. Back in 2006-2007, uh, musicians village became one of the most celebrated rebuilding projects in post-Katrina. Listen, y'all, it was beautiful, and for all those reasons, I just said the food of New Orleans, the architecture of New Orleans, the music of New Orleans, they came and said, we're going to build affordable housing for displaced musicians. Man, that's a big caveat. And I haven't done dug too deep into other communities where Habitat Hue for Humanity did specific work for a um niche, niche group of citizens, right? But to build these affordable housings for musicians just was a when it comes to this city, that was big, right? Um, they wanted to help preserve the culture and the heartbeat of New Orleans. Give our artists a chance to come home. Keep in mind, people were displaced 2006, 2007. Our musical heartbeat was out of here. Like everything was gone. The project attracted everybody. Listen, if I had enough time to pull up all the pictures and the photo ops, we had George W. Bush, Barack was here, our governor at the time was here, the mayor was here, all of our Saints players were here. Harry Conig Jr. and Brantford Marcellus, who again have a lot to do with the um uh that area of the Ninth Ward and the project they have. National media was here, international media was here. Everybody wanted a picture with a paintbrush and a damn hammer. That's that's that's what it was. Everybody understood, all jokes aside, everybody understood what the culture of New Orleans was and what it meant to get those musicians in their house, right? I mean, it was big. I can't even express to you out of all of the besides the Brad Pitt debacle in the Lord Night War. I can't even begin to tell you how big this um movement for musicians in the musicians village was. And the fun crazy the the fundraising machine went nuts. I promise you. Listen, we had benefit concerts, gallery openings, jazz fundraisers, corporate donations, and I'm talking around the country, if not the world. Uh NBC Universal Chairman Bob Wright donated enough to build an entire house, right? Big ups to him, big ups to him. The Dave Matthews band, Dave Matthews band issued a $1.5 million challenge grant. Musicians around the country organized, they showed up, and honestly, they should have, right? The project was listening, inspiring. You got a devastating uh disaster in Katrina in a city that is culturally relevant and important economically to the United States of America. Why wouldn't you? But eventually the ribbon cutting stopped, people, the cameras left, and reality moved in. And this is where we're going with this. Because this is Philanthropy in the black, and we just try to keep it real without shiting on any nonprofit, but using it as an example. Because here's it is here it is home ownership doesn't end when the house gets built, right? That's when the bills start. You know, it's like um being married. Uh, marriage doesn't start at the wedding. Drop a bomb for that. Marriage is about marriage is about maintenance, upkeep. So after the houses get built, there are property taxes, maintenance, repairs, and in Louisiana. Oh my lord, in Louisiana, in Louisiana, we have insurance. Oh lord, you know they're killing me. Shout out to uh OG Murder. Listen, the insurance crisis hit homeowners in a musician's village really, really hard. Hell, I'm a homeowner and I wasn't even prepared for it. Some residents suddenly faced a crisis they never anticipated, right? And we're gonna talk about if they were taught that what could happen. And to the credit of the city of New Orleans, my home, habitat, and other partners, they really stepped in to keep these homeowners afloat when those property taxes and uh the home insurance and all the things just went to the roofs. And that's where this story starts getting a little bit uncomfortable. Rental units, rental units, rent. So keep in mind that uh habitat for humanity, from what I understand through research, is about home ownership, not rental properties. But I think they understood this particular group of um New Orleans, New Orleanian citizens and this niche group of musicians, how important they were, but not every musician who's doing gigs can afford a mortgage or to afford sweat equity, and we'll get into that in a minute because that's important as well. But so I think Habitat for Humanity said, okay, we're gonna get into providing rental units within these properties. And listen, it's a beautiful property. The Ellis Marcellus uh center is in the area also that opened a few years later. Listen, it's awesome. They're doing great work, no, no, no shiting on them. Um, but with this rental units that was subsidized deeply, uh, many many of our um the tenants paid two and four hundred dollars per month. And I read this wonderful article article. I can't remember the journalist name. I'll try to drop it in the um in the um bio. But Freddie King, Freddie King is a legend, bluesman, soul man, like you name it. And this article came up the other day that just it kind of pissed me off because here's a legend, he's paraded around. The culture is always paraded around. Let's get that forefront by politicians, by rich people. I mean, Virgin Records, Virgin Hotels guy, I forget his name. He's in a Saint Aug outfit, um our Indian Mardi Girl culture, posters and pictures around the world, all the things. The culture is always, but Freddie King, it just touched my heart because here's a legend who can't pay rent. And I'll try to drop that article. But keep in mind that these weren't luxury luxury units. So, in their portfolio with the musicians village, they decided, hey, we're gonna do rental units. Now, they were beautiful. These were homes for people who helped create the culture that makes New Orleans valuable. Musicians, artists, culture bearers. That's a key word. I I want to kill that word sometimes, but culture bearers. The people, tourists, spend thousands of dollars to come see. Then last year, 2025, Habitat for Humanity sold dozens of rental properties. This way it gets ugly across the city, right? Because they they got they got they got all kinds of stuff, including several units in Musicians Village. That's where we are today to a private landlord. Not illegal, nothing wrong, right? The reason here it is. This is where I get a little Habitat for Humanity says the units were losing money 200,000 to 250,000 annually and require significant maintenance investments. That's why they decided to sell the rental units or all of it. From a business perspective, hey, understandable. We get it, we rock with you the hard way. From a mission perspective, that's where things for me and why I do this, it gets complicated and it upsets me. Because almost immediately residents began receiving notices, notices that rents could dramatically increase. Now, remember 200 to 1400, but the rents are gonna could possibly increase. And that's why that's when people started asking, what was this always the plan? Now, again, Habitat for Humanity, they're not a um property management company or nonprofit, their mission is affordable home ownership, not permanent rental housing. That's a big fact, not subsidized apartments forever, not being a landlord for life. In fact, Habitat has spent many years correcting the misconception about its work. People often think Habitat for Humanity always uh gives homes, gives them away. They don't. People, please, they don't. People think homeowners don't pay mortgages, they do, they do. As a matter of fact, I talked to a few of my friends who've lived in musicians' villages. Many of them are renting those properties that they own out now. So now it's a source of income while they're on the road doing their thing. Shebang she boying. People think habitat can solve poverty by itself, it cannot. Those to me are the facts, people, and facts in this situation absolutely matter. But here's where my nonprofit brain starts itching. The issue isn't whether Habitat followed this mission, the issue is whether the mission was enough for this particular uh community. We talk in New Orleans, baby. Because uh, musicians are not typical homeowners, people their income ain't typical, their schedules ain't typical. Many travel all the time, many have inconsistent earnings, many lack traditional employer benefits. Shout out to Musicians Clinic again, love what they do. Many lack traditional employer benefits. That's repeating my repeating it for those in the back. A one-size-fits-all housing model was always going to face unique challenges here in the city of New Orleans in the 504. And that's where I believe a greater, um, a larger ecosystem should have existed. This is me, y'all. This is me. Not just housing, not just mortgages, not just a ribbon cutting. And listen, actual sustainable strategy would have been dope in this space at that time. Financial literacy, which they do. To what extent, to what extent, I do not know, but it is part of the process. Insurance education, emergency assistance, partnerships, legacy planning, long-term, long-term support. Because preserving culture means preserving people who create it. We get it confused sometimes. It's always about the people, not just the house they live in. All right, and this is why today's episode is called It Takes a Village. Right? Let me let me give y'all some of this.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

It's called gentrification. It's what happens when the property value of a certain area is brought down. You listening? Yeah, they bring the property value down. They can buy the land at a lower price, then they move all the people out, raise the property value, and sell it at a profit.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

This is what they have been accused of, Habitat for Humanity. Five $1.5 million, maybe $33,000, $35,000 per unit. What do we do with that money? Where did that money go? And was this always part of the plan? Because Habitat for Humanity has been accused of gentrification. Right? No single nonprofit can solve a complex community problem alone. I always try to preach collaboration and partnership, consolidation, merger, dissolving, right? You gotta know when your time has come to an end to transform. Habitat builds homes. That's what they do. That's it. They build homes. But musicians also need health care, financial assistance, insurance advocacy, retirement planning, emergency support, workforce development. Come on, come with it. That takes a village, it takes a true community and nonprofit sector. It takes a network, a coalition, a stronger, a strategy bigger than one organization. That's that's always gonna be my premise and foundation. So, what should have happened? Let's get into the what could have happened of this particular incident. And again, this article, it was called Culture is the new cotton. And for the South, listen, that that that's dope. And it was um anti-gravity. That was the magazine. Look it up, anti-gravity, culture, culture is the new cotton, meaning that's how we the city makes its money off the back of the culture, not the sugar cane and the cotton anymore, right? So here's what I think in retrospect, right? To be fair, what they call it, Monday morning quarterbacking this situation. But habitat's been around forever around the world. First, residents should have received long-range planning information years in advance. So if it's costing you $200,000 to upkeep, what are you gonna do, Habitat? Inform the residents that this is not sustainable, make them true partners, right? Not just what would habitat would do, but what would Habitat eventually stop doing? See, that's the that's the big part. Uh, we we've done all of this, but here's what we're about to stop doing. If they, as a citizen or as a homeowner or a rental person benefiting from the rental uh opportunity, if you tell me what's about to stop, I can maneuver, maybe there's some education, so on and so forth. Second, stronger partnerships should have been established with organizations focused on musicians' financial stability. That would have been huge because again, one organization, that's why this is not about dumping on habitat for humanity, it's about the strategy and how nonprofits need to look past the performative aspect of what they do. Third, ongoing home ownership education should have been embedded into the model. Listen, Habitat for Humanity has a dope model, right? They got this sweat equity deal. Listen, you build the houses like this $200, $500 worth of hours that you need to put back in, and some of that is toward education and courses, some of that is to actually literally build in the houses from what the research research shows. I mean, I don't know how much of that a uh uh a musician it can do when you're trying to make a living on the road, let alone a low-income person. Then the idea that there might be some hard um credit and income things that could be prohibitive for musicians, but we're gonna go there. But especially around insurance, taxes, maintenance, and affordability risk, right? Fourth, a dedicated fundraising strategy should have been developed around preserving musicians' housing. Not because it's habitat's responsibility forever, but it's because it's the community's responsibility. Listen, y'all, this is New Orleans. Now, think about if Habitat for Humanity would have came through and said, yo, we're gonna do this annual fundraiser for our musicians who have a rent issue, who might have a financial emergency, who need support? What if they would have started some kind of gala? And I hate galas, but an event. What about a block party in musicians village that would have been a fundraiser? You got Harry Konnig Jr., my guy. You got Bradford Marcellus and all the Marcellus. There's more Marcellus' than Wayne's brothers. Like, I mean and sisters, like they're what if they would have just created this ongoing community block party jam that's an annual fundraiser for the musicians of a musicians village to raise money in a case of emergencies. I digress. Here's the bottom line. I don't think habitat for humanity is developed. I really, really, really don't. I think this is a case study, a case study and what happens when successful, when a successful project becomes a successful headline. Again, I promise you, if you go look up the the the the the the opening of musicians village and all the things that was done to celebrate the culture, you'll be astounded. It was a big headline because it wasn't just Katrina, it was helping New Orleans, it was helping musicians, it was helping the those who didn't have resources. It was beautiful. Everybody took a I almost cussed, everybody had a pick job, right? A case study and what happens when the project becomes a successful project becomes a successful headline, and the headline ends. What was the planning? The question for every nonprofit listening is simple. Are you building programs or are you building sustainability? Talk to them. Oh Lord. Are you building programs or are you building sustainability? Because non pro Habitat for Humanity could have uh gave that off to another organization to do these events, and it would have been dope. It would have been one of the best events in this city of New Orleans before all this these other events started popping up post-Katrina. Communities don't need temporary victories, they need lasting solutions, right? It absolutely takes a village. They need lasting solutions. Lasting solutions rarely come from one nonprofit, it comes from the village. And if that village disappears after the ribbon cutting, ribbon cutting, was the village ever really freaking there? Listen, y'all, this has been a red alert because there are lessons in this for all of us that help, in my view, nonprofits to stay dope, stay relevant, stay sustaining our cultural economy, uh, making sure that we don't only use these musicians and artists and these fine people for the benefit of driving tourism, but also driving sustainability. This is Sally Sarah, this is Philanthropy and the Black. I need you to like, follow, share. Look, we're on all the streaming uh podcast platforms. Look for Philanthropy in the Black. Go to my website, check out some of the past episodes. It's only gonna get bigger and better. We're gonna have live guests, we're gonna have anonymous donor calls, it's about to go down, and I want you to be part of this movement that is meant to solely help our nonprofit sector stay financially, in the black, socially, in the black, morally, in the black. Philanthropyandheblack.com. I love y'all. I'm going to see Michael Jackson.