Check out Harry Shearer’s recent piece in the Huffington Post, highlighting some of the progress in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans despite the lack of federal effort to help jumpstart the renovation and rebuilding of rental units in the city.

I’ve been amazed and inspired by the area’s signs of life. But it took this week’s tour, courtesy of the Preservation Resource Center, for me to realize just how false is the national media’s depiction of the Lower 9 as dead, derelict and devastated. There are streets — like the two blocks of Egania Street I happened onto last fall — and neighborhoods — like Holy Cross, where PRC is concentrating much of its restoration and rebuilding effort — that astonish with rebuilt, re-landscaped and re-occupied little (and not so little) homes, mostly restored in the vernacular styles of the area. The Lower 9 shares with districts as undevastated as the French Quarter the curse of streets badly in need of repair (a major road-repair program in the city was announced just this week, nearly three years after the floodwaters were pumped out)… Yet the recovery by homeowners, assisted by dedicated organizations like the PRC, continues, blessed, as I tell my friends there, by the absence of the illusion of leadership.

Trouble the Water fills the cover of the New York Times Arts section this morning. Manohla Dargis calls it “One of the best American documentaries in recent memory,” and one of the strongest films in this year’s edition of New Directors/New Films, by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art.

Read all of Voice, Eyes and Camera of Katrina Survivors.

Or listen to New York Times audiocast available below:

The Guardian, the UK’s premier newspaper at covering in-depth issues in the States, today features an insightful piece on the “epic housing crisis” facing New Orleans. The article highlights the startling rental housing statistics researched by Annie Clark and Kalima Rose in the landmark PolicyLink report, “Bringing Louisiana Renters Back Home.” (pdf) The article features quotes from Ms. Clark, as well.

There are few incentives for landlords to renovate their rental properties. The Louisiana Recovery Authority’s “Road Home” program offers incentives for “small rental property owners” but it is not popular with mom-and-pop landlords, according to Annie Clark of progressive policy and research institute PolicyLink.

“A landlord says, ‘Yes I am going to rehabilitate my rental units,’” Clark explained, “but then he or she has to get a bank loan which is then paid back by Road Home. Banks are very hesitant to give loans to people this way.”

Clark added that Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has rehabilitated only about 1,500 units of the 4,600 units it has set aside for seniors, the disabled and poor working families in New Orleans. “HUD really has shirked its responsibility in these units,” Clark said.

The full piece is definitely worth a read to get a sense of the depth of the housing crisis still ongoing in New Orleans.

More than two years have passed since Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans. Although many parts of the city are back in business, other areas – including large swaths of the Lower Ninth Ward – remain under-populated, with far too many brownfields and vacant properties. Yet, a walk through the Lower Ninth Ward also shows the many efforts, by a roster of diverse people, underway to help breathe life back into the Crescent City.

One of the innovative efforts includes Global Green’s Holy Cross Project, which aims to be “to be a beacon of sustainable development for New Orleans and the world.” After the storm, Global Green USA – with Brad Pitt – issued a call for innovative solutions to design a zero energy affordable housing development. The winner, New York’s Workshop/APD, works with residents — including Pam Deshiell and the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association — to create housing that is healthy, affordable, and sustainable. “We aim for this project to meet LEED Platinum standards and carbon neutral,” said Beth Gallente, a member of Global Green project team. The project uses recycled wood for flooring, energy efficient appliances, HVAC systems, energy monitoring systems, and other green design principles. Global Green will build 5 single-family homes and an 18-unit apartment building. Currently, they’re completing a model unit that’ll serve as a prototype for the single-family units.

Check out the project for updates on housing availability and tips on how to make your home a greener place.

“It was estimated that if 50,000 of the homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina were rebuilt according to the green standards of set by the design competition, residents of New Orleans would save $38 million to $56 million in energy bills every year and eliminate over 1⁄2 million total tons of CO2 – the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road.” — Global Green