Andreanecia M. Morris
Andreanecia M. Morris serves as the Executive Director for HousingNOLA, a 10-year partnership between the community leaders, and dozens of public, private, and nonprofit organizations working to solve New Orleans’ affordable housing crisis. HousingNOLA’s mission is to provide a road map to maximize the effectiveness of scarce government resources, increase non-traditional resources, and assist private sector investors in making strategic choices. Prior to her role as Executive Director, Morris spearheaded the development of the HousingNOLA 10-year Strategy and Implementation Plan. The strategy indicates the need for 33,600 new affordable housing opportunities by 2025. Through the partners’ collective efforts, approximately 2,500 opportunities have been created since the plan launched in 2015.
A native of Edgard, Louisiana, Morris began working to support creation of affordable housing opportunities financed with public and private resources in Metro New Orleans after graduating from Loyola University New Orleans. Post Katrina, she has implemented programs that created 500 first time homebuyers, secured $104.5 million soft second subsidy for Metro New Orleans and provided supportive services for approximately 5,000 households—homeowners who were struggling to rebuild and renters who required wrap around services. Morris was lead organizer for Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance (GNOHA) when it started in 2007 as a loose coalition of community development nonprofits who resolved to rebuild the City of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. Morris now serves as President/Chairwoman for the GNOHA Board of Governors, which supports and advises the efforts to preserve and production of affordable housing for people within region and places a special emphasis on the needs of the most vulnerable in society. GNOHA members and partners to developed approximately 88,000 housing opportunities between 2006 and 2015.
Morris also chairs the HousingLOUISIANA Alliance Network and she is an appointee to the Federal Reserve Community Advisory Committee, a board member of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), Finance Authority of New Orleans (FANO), Prosperity Now Community Steering Committee, Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation, Capital One Community Advisory Committee, and the American Heart Association Multicultural Leadership Committee. Morris has also earned a Master of Arts in Community Development Policy and Practice (MACPP) from the University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy.
Gambit Weekly named Morris New Orleanian of the Year for her role in HousingNOLA’s historic efforts in 2017. As a part of celebrations around New Orleans' historic tricentennial anniversary in 2018, JP Morgan Chase partnered with the Times Picayune/NOLA.com to name Morris one of 12 "Icons of New Orleans” as part of the paper’s 300 for 300 campaign. Biz New Orleans Magazine selected her as one of their Executives of the Year for 2020.