My neighbor Wanda, a native Black New Orleanian who has lived in the Lower 9th Ward for 65 years, is at risk of losing her home due to taxes she didn’t know she owed. She needs this home to care for family and care for herself as she copes with health challenges. We need your help raising $10,694 to help her keep her home.

Wanda has been my wonderful neighbor the past five years and has blessed me with many hilarious and meandering porch chats, sweet interactions with her grandkids, as well as a welcoming heart to the many people who have lived in my house over the years. Wanda received notice in September from the city that she owes 4 years of revised property tax payments on her house, totaling about $7,000. This is a huge increase from her prior bills and came as an enormous surprise.

If Wanda is not able to pay the revised tax bill by the end of November, her house will be put up for auction for the tax amount owed, and taken from her. After that point, the only way for her to get the house back would be to buy it back from whoever buys it at auction, for the current market price. This won’t be financially feasible for her, and is simply unjust. For many years, the Lower 9th Ward has been battered by forces of gentrification and displacement, and it is absolutely urgent and critical that Black homeowners, and especially elder Black community members, are able to keep their homes in this neighborhood.

Wanda is a Black New Orleans native and has lived in the Lower 9th Ward for over 65 years. She is a sister, a mother to two children and grandma to 4 sweet grandkids. She inherited the house from her father, Charles, when he passed in 2018. His property tax payments had been grandfathered in, and the property tax notices that Wanda had received since his passing have specified that same amount, which Wanda had been paying. She received 4 notices from the city in short succession in September informing her that the property tax payments had been revised for the years 2020-2023 to the current tax rates. She now owes the revised property taxes for 4 years of $7,000 to be paid immediately, which she cannot pay.

The city’s bureaucratic failures, inequitable payment expectations, and gentrification-fueled property value increases should not cost Wanda her family home. The house is a haven for Wanda, her daughters and her grandkids, who Wanda often cares for. Wanda is a kind, hilarious and thoughtful person and neighbor and is always looking out for others. She worked as an in-home nursing care nurse for many years, and I’ve been grateful to share the block with someone who is as caring and welcoming as her.

Sadly, Wanda has also been dealing with serious health challenges (doctors have recently discovered lumps on both her thyroid and spleen), and having a home to care for herself is more important and crucial than ever. She anticipates serious medical costs for treatment, which makes the property tax bill even more stressful and impossible to pay.

I am helping Wanda raise the funds to pay the revised property tax bill, as well as the anticipated 2024 property tax bill to be sent in January (which has risen to $1,700 from less than $100) and legal fees she incurred from consulting a lawyer about the situation. Funds will be used as follows:

Help a neighbor out! Any and all contributions are so greatly appreciated, and please share with your networks far and wide!

With love and gratitude,

Wanda & Clem