The Jericho Housing Corporation is a non-profit agency that works to spur economic growth and sustainability through homebuyer training, credit counseling, and identifying funding sources for homeownership and retention for low wealth families in urban communities.
History of Organization
The Jericho Housing and Development Corporation (JHD) is a non-profit agency that works to help individuals meet their development needs and spur economic growth through homebuyer training, counseling as well as identifying funding sources for homeownership and retention to low wealth families in urban communities. The nonprofit was established in July of 1999, as an innovative, 51% minority-female-owned community-based nonprofit organization with IRS 501 (c) 3 status. They received CHDO status in January of 2005. The founder of the Jericho Housing & Development Corporation is community leader, entrepreneur, and local businesswoman Danette O’Neal.
Community Profile
Louisiana had a critical need for approximately 330,000 affordable housing units prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Almost 90% of all major damage from Hurricanes occurred in the New Orleans metro area- affecting 515,000 housing units. Sixty percent (272,000) of the residents have returned. The child poverty rate has increased to 28%, household incomes has decreased (medium of $36,729), and the racial income gap widened between whites and blacks ($44,300/$23,238 per year).Louisiana‘s poverty rates are now among the highest in the nation. Over half of the parishes in the state (32 of 64) are extremely poor. The natural and unnatural disasters in the Gulf Coast claimed 2,000 lives and imperiled thousands more wreaking unprecedented damage, offering an opportunity to examine the role that policy plays in the persistent economic and social inequity that makes the lives of so many people and families vulnerable (PolicyLink, 2008).
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Danette O'Neal, PhD 