New Orleans Homeless Shelter Receives $750K for Retrofit

Fifth District Savings Bank and FHLB Dallas Provide Funds to Ozanam Inn

Fifth District Savings Bank (Fifth District) and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) awarded a $750,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) subsidy to Ozanam Inn, which is wrapping up a retrofit at its new location.

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Fifth District Savings Bank and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas awarded a $750,000 Affordable Housing Program subsidy to Ozanam Inn to retrofit a building it purchased. (Photo: Business Wire)

Ozanam Inn, in operation since 1955 in New Orleans, Louisiana, had been serving the homeless and underprivileged in a building owned by St. Vincent de Paul at 843 Camp Street until recently when it undertook a $5 million project to buy and retrofit a building it purchased at 2239 Poydras Street. The AHP funds will offset cost of the retrofit, said Renée Blanche, deputy director/director of development for Ozanam Inn.

Ozanam Inn moved into the building in November and in early December began accepting women for overnight stays and into its residential program, something it wasn’t able to do in its prior building, due to space constraints, she said. The renovations are mostly complete and included adding a commercial kitchen, showers to the second floor and new plumbing.

“The AHP funding means we can close the gap on what is needed to complete our fundraising for the Ozanam Inn renovation and allows us to channel other contributions into our operation and our services,” Ms. Blanche said. “We are humbled and honored by this funding and the faith put in us by FHLB Dallas and Fifth District.”

Brian North, president and CEO at Fifth District, said the AHP allows the bank to assist community organizations that are making a positive difference.

“Ozanam Inn offers a wide variety of social services to help people get back on their feet, from basic shelter to case management that includes helping people obtain lost documents, gain employment skills and learn money management,” he said. “We are honored to be a partner with FHLB Dallas to provide funds to Ozanam Inn.”

AHP funds are intended to assist FHLB Dallas members in financing the purchase, construction and/or rehabilitation of owner-occupied, rental or transitional housing and housing for homeless individuals. The funds must be used to benefit households with incomes at or below 80 percent of the median income for the area.

For 2021, FHLB Dallas awarded $18.5 million in subsidies to 26 affordable housing projects. The subsidies will help create 2,113 new or rehabilitated housing units, including $3 million for 323 units in Louisiana.

Between 1990 and 2020, FHLB Dallas has awarded more than $323 million in AHP and Homeownership Set-Aside Programs and has assisted more than 57,000 households.

Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas, said assisting homeless shelters is just one way that AHP funding has been used.

“In an ideal world, there would be no homelessness but, because it is such a complex problem, we are thankful to have organizations such as Ozanam Inn to provide assistance to people in need and members like Fifth District who step up to be a financial partner through the AHP,” Mr. Hettrick said.

For more information about the AHP, visit fhlb.com/ahp.

About Fifth District Savings Bank

Established in 1926, Fifth District is a federal mutual savings association. Our goal is to support the New Orleans area by offering a variety of quality financial products with service that exceeds our customers' expectations.

About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $60.2 billion as of September 30, 2021, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 800 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit our website at fhlb.com.

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Fifth District Savings Bank and FHLB Dallas awarded a $750K AHP subsidy to Ozanam Inn, which is wrapping up a retrofit at its new location.