New Orleans complex will avoid water shutoffs while officials settle $1.5M past-due bill

Seniors at a Central City public housing complex will be able to use their water for another month while the New Orleans housing authority and the property’s private manager decide who will settle a $1.5 million water bill. 

Susannah Kirby, the Sewerage and Water Board’s chief of customer service told board members of the Housing Authority of New Orleans on Tuesday that the utility would not shut off water at the Guste High Rise for 30 days while the board decides how to fund the payment. 

The HANO board meeting, the first since a push by the federal government to close the complex went public, exposed tensions between HANO and the property’s resident-led management firm, Guste Homes Resident Management Corp. Both work together to manage the property.

HANO’s board has covered Guste’s water bills once before, said Executive Director Marjorianna Willman and Asset Management Director Maggie Merrill – in 2024, when the board pulled $361,000 from its reserves to settle an unpaid S&WB bill.  

“We’re actually imperiling the reserves for the agency that manages all public housing,” said HANO board commissioner Joshua Cox. “If that money isn’t replenished, we’re actually risking the entire infrastructure of supporting public housing in in the city.”

Cox proposed that the board instead ask Guste to reimburse HANO for any costs it pays out to settle its water bills. The board plans to revisit the issue at a special meeting.

Wiggins has said that neither Guste or HANO should pay but that both should instead contest the S&WB bills, which she said are too high.

Wiggins also said the HANO’s leadership had not done its part to inform her that the Department of Housing and Urban Development was interested in closing Guste before HANO told the public. HUD has said it wants to assess whether the building meets its standards, and if it does not, the building’s 310 residents will be given vouchers to find housing elsewhere. 

Guste’s residents are “angry – they think HANO is trying to take their homes away from them,” she said. “The seniors are at a level I’ve never seen – the outrage.” 

The meeting also exposed some tensions between HANO’s leadership and its board, as some board members said they weren’t aware of HUD’s directive to HANO before Willman’s team sent out a press release about it on Feb. 10. 

The 385-unit high rise is jointly managed by HANO and Guste Homes, and only 77% of its units are occupied. The government requires that 88% of units be filled and Willman has acknowledged that the building has grown expensive for HANO to maintain. 

But Willman and Wiggins agree that closing the facility, as HUD has proposed, is not in the best interest of its elderly and disabled residents. Willman has asked HUD to reconsider and instead let Guste access other money it can use to make needed building repairs, and in turn draw in tenants.  

The water issue is a separate one that exposed friction between Wiggins and HANO, and also shed light on a HANO practice of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the agency’s reserves to bring developments current on water bills at not just Guste, but at other properties. 

In 2025, the agency paid the S&WB around $500,000 in reserves to cover past-due bills at other HANO-owned properties, said Willman.

Commissioners said that the housing authority ran the risk of depleting its reserves, which total less than $20 million. Financial director Stacy Jackson said she did not know the exact amount. 

After Wiggins said the seniors at the building were upset with HANO, Willman and the board members suggested holding an open meeting at Guste for residents to ask questions and express concerns.

“Don’t come right now,” said Wiggins. “They don’t trust y’all, because they don’t know y’all. Let me settle the water.”

Meanwhile, as Wiggins spoke about the property’s water bills, Willman and HANO Chief Counsel Keva Landrum furrowed their brows in confusion.

“I say call the investors, the developers or whomever, and have a conversation with them, because they have reserve funds for that property,” said Wiggins at one point.

“Which developers are you referring to?” said Willman, perplexed. 

The board has not set a date for the special meeting.