What the Research Says About Neighborhood Revitalization and What We're Doing About It in the Capital Region

A landmark study from the Opportunity Insights team at Harvard University on the federal HOPE VI program confirms what many in the affordable housing field have long believed.

The study examined more than one million public housing families across the country and found that children who grew up in HOPE VI-revitalized communities earned significantly more as adults, up to 50 percent more if they lived there from birth. Each additional year a child spent in a revitalized neighborhood increased their adult earnings by 2.8 percent. The researchers also found that the earnings gains far outpaced the cost of revitalization. Revitalizing a single public housing unit generates an estimated $500,000 in lifetime earnings gains for the children raised there, compared to an upfront cost of $170,000 to taxpayers.

The research goes further. It found that the gains were not simply the result of better buildings. They were driven by stronger social connections. Children in revitalized communities spent more time with, befriended, and ultimately lived near higher-income neighbors. Revitalization changed not just the physical landscape but the economic trajectory of the next generation.

What Partners Southeast Has Been Building Across the Capital Region

This is exactly the work Partners Southeast has been doing across the Capital Region for over two decades.

In 2002, the East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority (EBRPHA) was awarded a HOPE VI grant through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to transform a distressed area of Old South Baton Rouge. The grant allowed EBRPHA to remove and replace substandard units with a mix of subsidized and market rate housing, demonstrating to the community and private developers alike the market potential for additional housing options in the area. That single grant set in motion a multi-phase, multi-decade investment that produced River South Phase I, a 33-unit scattered site community completed in 2008; River South Phase II, 46 homes and apartments along Highland Road completed in 2019; and Cypress River Lofts, a 19-unit development at the corner of Duane and Oklahoma streets completed in 2024. Together, these three phases represent $28.1 million in capital investment in one of Baton Rouge's oldest neighborhoods.

That work did not stop there. In 2018, Baton Rouge was awarded a $29.5 million HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant, the successor program to HOPE VI, to transform the Ardenwood public housing development and the surrounding neighborhoods of East Fairfields, Smiley Heights, and Melrose East. In 2024, the initiative received an additional $2.5 million HUD supplemental grant, bringing total federal investment to $32 million. That federal commitment has been leveraged 12 times over, attracting more than $400 million in total public and private investment across the BR Choice area, including $45 million from the Louisiana Housing Corporation, $8 million in state flood recovery funds, and $12 million from the City-Parish of Baton Rouge.

The result is Cypress at Ardendale, a mixed-income, intergenerational community that has earned national recognition, including the 2025 Good Growth Award from the Good Growth Coalition for excellence in development and community impact. The BR Choice footprint also sits within a federally designated Opportunity Zone, attracting private investment and long-term economic growth at a scale the Capital Region has not seen in decades.

Housing as a Long-Term Investment in People

The Harvard research validates what this work is built on: that place matters, that investment in housing is investment in people, and that the return on that investment compounds over generations. It also issues a clear challenge. The study found that children only see meaningful improvements in earnings, educational attainment, and long-term outcomes when the surrounding community is itself connected to opportunity. Isolated neighborhoods, no matter how well-built, do not move the needle on their own.

‍
That is precisely why the BR Choice Neighborhoods Initiative was designed not just to build housing, but to build the conditions for opportunity across a connected corridor. The Educational Spine links neighborhood schools, early learning centers, and Baton Rouge Community College into one pathway so families can access education, job training, and career options without leaving the community. The Renoir Cultural District, certified in 2020, uses art, culture, and community-centered design to build identity and attract continued investment. Rouses Market ended the food desert designation in the BR Choice footprint. LEWCO, an internationally recognized textile manufacturer, expanded operations in the area, and the BRCC McKay Automotive Technology Center gives families direct pathways into stable, high-demand careers. This is a clear example of a community of opportunity and choice.

Later this year, Cypress at Ardendale Senior, a 70-unit senior community, will complete construction, creating a true multi-generational, walkable neighborhood where families and seniors live side by side. Phases III and IV of Cypress at Ardendale will follow, ultimately delivering 434 homes and $166 million in total housing investment to the corridor.

Housing alone is not the finish line. The research is clear that sustained investment in the people, institutions, and connections that surround that housing is what changes outcomes for the next generation. What remains is continued commitment from federal and state partners, from the private sector, and from the community itself to see that work through.

Partners Southeast has been at this for over two decades and we intend to be here for however long it takes.

‍