As state officials try to wrap their collective head around the temporary housing crisis that is emerging in the wake of the historic flood, one of the biggest challenges is finding what available inventory remains in the Capital Region’s multifamily market.
While no one has exact numbers just yet, inventory is being rapidly depleted. Before the flood, only 6% of the Capital Region’s roughly 33,100 multifamily units were vacant, according to data compiled for the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors’ annual Trends report. In high-demand areas of Livingston and Ascension parishes, vacancy rates were far lower—just 2.4% and 4.2%, respectively.
During the flood, a still undetermined number of those available units were flooded, as were some 40,000 homes. Thousands of temporary workers and volunteers, meanwhile, are flocking to the area and will need housing. It’s clear existing supply won’t come close to meeting demand.
To try to get a handle on the situation, the Greater Baton Rouge Association of Realtors and the Baton Rouge Area Chamber are directing landlords with available units and flood victims in search of housing to a state-run website. But the database is currently incomplete.
A search of the website this afternoon shows just 327 available units in the Baton Rouge region, ranging from those that accept Section 8 vouchers to those costing as much as $5,000 per month.
The Multiple Listing Service showed even fewer, just 245 in East Baton Rouge, Livingston and Ascension parishes combined. It’s important to note, however, that most apartments for lease are not listed on the MLS.
A quick check of Craigslist, meanwhile, showed 2,500 units available within a 30-mile radius of Baton Rouge. It’s unclear if that information has been updated, however.
The Addison and The High Grove are two complexes that still have availability. But Aaron Amitin, president of The Domain Cos., which developed the complexes and handles leasing, says more than two dozen units were leased earlier today and only a handful remain.
“If someone needs housing they need to come in immediately,” he says. “I’m not saying that to create a false sense of urgency. It’s changing by the minute.”
Amitin says his company is starting to suggest that potential tenants look to its complexes in New Orleans as an alternative.
Appraiser Craig Davenport, of Cook Moore and Associates, believes a segment of displaced flood victims will end up relocating downriver to the New Orleans region, in a reversal of what Katrina’s flood victims did 11 years ago.
“You can kind of parallel this to Katrina and look at what happened in New Orleans, where occupancy was 100% for the whole region for a long time,” he says. “It will be interesting to see how much of that is reversed now.”
—Stephanie Riegel
