Out of what was once a country club and golf course, a new subdivision on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish is beginning to take shape, with hopes of providing an affordable path to homeownership for seniors and working class residents. 

Called Rising Oaks, the new neighborhood — at the former Plantation Golf & Country Club off Behrman Highway in Terrytown — is the most ambitious project yet for Habitat for Humanity’s New Orleans affiliate and a new approach for the nearly four-decade-old nonprofit.

Habitat typically builds its homes on older lots in developed neighborhoods. For this project, Habitat is building an entirely new, 154-home subdivision from scratch. After breaking ground last year, Rising Oaks is finally rising up. 

The streets are paved. The sewer lines are installed. And on Friday, officials gathered for a ceremonial “wall raising” of one of five homes currently under construction. 

Marguerite Oestreicher, executive director of the local affiliate of the home-building nonprofit, said the goal is to provide a path to homeownership for what she calls the “missing middle.”

“Housing for families that make too much to enjoy any kind of subsidy or support, but not enough to break the cycle of renting,” she said. 

Jefferson Parish 1st District Council member Timothy Kerner Jr. said Rising Oaks is much-needed given what he called the “economic pandemic” of rising costs and stagnant wages. 

“This could really be a model, not only just for the West Bank, not only just for Terrytown, but for all of Jefferson Parish, all of the region,” Kerner said.

To make the project work financially, Habitat has also had to adjust its qualifications. The nonprofit typically requires prospective homeowners to make no more than 80% of the Area Median Income, which, for a family of four in Jefferson Parish, is around $69,450.

Oestreicher said Habitat’s New Orleans affiliate had to get a special waiver from its international headquarters to raise the income cap to 120% of the Area Median Income, or around $104,160 for a family of four.

The nonprofit also isn’t providing zero-interest mortgages, as it has historically done. Instead, it’s partnering with local banks for its mortgages. Oestreicher said Habitat will ensure that homeowners’ payments don’t exceed 30% of their household income

Oestreicher said she couldn’t say how much the homes will ultimately cost, given that they’re currently under construction. But she estimated that they’ll range between $175,000 and $275,000. 

With the rising costs of property insurance, Habitat’s decades-old model of providing an affordable path to homeownership for working-class people has become harder and harder to maintain. 

In New Orleans, more than 100 residents who purchased their homes through Habitat were staring down possible foreclosure last year due to sky-high insurance premiums, before an anonymous donor stepped in to help. 

The homes at Rising Oaks are being built to “FORTIFIED Gold” standards. The technique helps prevent against damage from severe weather and usually leads to lower property insurance costs for homeowners. Oestreicher said preliminary insurance quotes have been “manageable.”

The homes are also being constructed on top of piles, to protect the foundation from cracking from subsidence, Oestreicher said. 

“It’s not just a good looking neighborhood with nice sidewalks. It’s a community built to last, for teachers, first responders, hospitality workers, health care heroes, veterans, seniors,” said Allen Bell, the nonprofit’s director of strategic planning and advancement.

The subdivision will feature several amenities, including a walking trail, fitness center, pocket parks and pagodas for community gatherings. “We want people to be able to live here and not have to own a car,” Oestreicher said. 

More than 200 people are in the “active query” stage to qualify to purchase a home, Oestreicher said. Two others have qualified, and are expected to move in this fall, she said.