The roots of JPNSI’s work started in the spring of 1999 with the creation of Nowe Miasto (No’vay Mee’ah’sto) in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans.
Polish for ‘new city,’ Nowe Miasto was originally conceived as collective living, performance, art, and community space. Serving as an organizing hub for local activists from 1999 to 2005, the three-story, 11,000 square foot converted warehouse space became an incubator, sustainer, and supporter of community-based projects. The building hosted meetings, art, and workspaces, as well as fundraisers, performances, conference housing, gardening projects, workshops, and lecture series. In 2005, collective members purchased the building two-month before Hurricane Katrina with plans of establishing a Limited Equity Housing Cooperative.
When Hurricane Katrina devastated the neighborhood in 2005, members of Nowe Misato realized that a community-wide movement to protect and encourage equitable redevelopment was necessary for promoting safe, affordable, and sustainable communities. And thus Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative was officially incorporated in December of 2008.
What We Believe
We believe everyone has a right to safe, accessible, healthy, and affordable homes, and that our work has to center the leadership and needs of those residents most vulnerable to housing discrimination, displacement, and neighborhood planning exclusion.
JPNSI understands that one of the strongest ways to preserve the vibrancy of our neighborhoods is to create community-controlled development. We are different from many other housing developers — our work is not driven by the need to make a profit, and we are committed to permanently affordable housing.
Our rental homes will always be rented for below market rate and only be available to low and moderate income residents.
