Almost overnight, quiet communities like Lafayette as well as others along I-10 serving as benchmarks on the westward journey toward Texas have nearly doubled in capacity, quickly becoming among the most populated areas in the Deep South. And with that title comes all the challenges of a booming metropolis.
What does it all mean for Acadiana? Unfortunately, predictions and forecasts for the local economy have been few and far between. Like everything else being surveyed in the state ' commercial seafood, water quality, oil pipelines ' it's too early to tell. Yet there is enough anecdotal information floating around to make some educated predictions.
Dr. Sarah Skinner, an associate professor of economics at UL Lafayette, says the influx of people, new businesses and money could cut several different directions. "It could go either way," she says. "The increases of people is good for the local economy in the short run. People have to eat, so restaurants will do better. Then they in turn have to buy more supplies, so some of our stores will do better. There could also be a long-term positive impact if many of these businesses and people decide to relocate here permanently."
It's difficult at this time to produce a precise economic model for Acadiana, Skinner says, because there's no real precedent for the mass relocation. It could be months or years until the true impact is known. The real estate markets alone, however, are enough to suggest an economic boom in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans.
In Baton Rouge, office space is being gobbled up at an alarming rate. And there are typically about 4,000 home rental vacancies in the Capital City annually, but now there are none. Even home sales are through the roof. "People are buying homes with suitcases of cash," says Drew Tessier, a spokesman for the city of Baton Rouge.
From Lafayette to Lake Charles, Acadiana is likewise boasting record numbers. "In the Thursday and Friday after the storm, the region did about $250 million in real estate business," says Amy Jones, a spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. of Lafayette.
There is a downside to that prosperity. State Rep. Mickey Frith of Abbeville has spent recent weeks hustling to find available housing for the thousands of evacuees stuck in Acadiana. His own son even handed the keys of his home over to a displaced family.
"Primarily, right now, these people need housing," says Frith, chairman of the Acadiana Legislative Delegation. "For rent or purchase or whatever. And we're having a lot of trouble getting [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] and [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] to help pay for some of this."
There's also a problem with current infrastructure in Lafayette, specifically roads and highways. Drives that once took a few minutes now take a half hour. "We already had substantial needs in that area to begin with," Frith says. "Now the roads are congested at every hour."
This is where government aid comes into play. Officials expect Acadiana to be included in future supplemental appropriations bills coming out of Congress, as well as in discussions during the upcoming special session of the state Legislature.
A lack of response from these two deliberative bodies would be completely irresponsible, some say. "It's just that simple," Jones says. "We have to remember, regardless if they're in New Orleans or Baton Rouge or Lafayette, these are still people of Louisiana. We need to make sure that as they come into the community, they come in as full-functioning members of the community."
The pressure is being felt all along I-10. Banks are reporting long waits for withdrawals and new accounts. Loan officers are backlogged with requests for rental deposits. City clerks are being forced to bring in additional administrators to handle new home purchases.
In Acadiana, however, the transition to take on new businesses seems somewhat seamless in certain areas. That's because the lion's share of new economy moving in builds on existing bases, rather than creating new ones. Oil and gas companies are flocking to the area because there's a ready base of workers, access to the Gulf of Mexico and a host of parent companies that have operated in the region for generations. Many displaced artists and musicians have also found a home base in Lafayette, comfortable in its rich tradition of supporting art and culture.
"There's a lot of parity between New Orleans and Lafayette with the culture here and an arts community that is well supported by the city," Jones says. "So, as far as the feeling you have in New Orleans, you can find the same thing here in Lafayette, but only on smaller scale."
Officials are expecting many of Lafayette's new visitors to become permanent residents. If and when that prediction comes true, it would be a watershed moment for Louisiana's Cajun heartland. "I think we'll really start to see the impact of all this when people decide they don't want to go back to their original homes," says Skinner.
Gov. Bobby Jindal offered a budget proposal that suggests new education and health care spending, pay raises for state workers and an incentive fund to encourage colleges to enhance their science, engineering and technology training.
Here's your daily look at late-breaking national and international news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday, March 11, 2014:
Hopefully he’ll be better prepared today than he was in that Feb. 20 deposition.
They came by the hundreds, arriving from all regions of the state to gather on the steps of our Capitol in protest of the Legislature’s long tradition of giving industry the go-ahead to abuse our air, our water and our coastline, all in the name of good economics.
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s recent rhetoric against President Barack Obama has failed to boost his standing among the conservative base.
Louisiana's annual legislative session begins.
The state has hired marksmen to shoot feral hogs from helicopters at two wildlife management areas in south Louisiana.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has stalled action on a $3.5 billion annual school funding formula due to state lawmakers by March 15.
The New Orleans Saints have yet to make it official as of this writing, but popular wide receiver Lance Moore has reportedly been cut by the team to free up salary-cap space on the roster.
While two medical marijuana bills are slated for the upcoming legislative session, what some Louisianans might not know is that the plant was approved for therapeutic use by state lawmakers in 1991.
The agenda is shaping up to be lighter than in previous years. But Jindal is term-limited, with fewer than two years remaining in office, and he saw his last big initiative — a proposed rewrite of Louisiana tax law — collapse without getting a vote in 2013.
Sharper has been held without bail because of an arrest warrant issued by Louisiana authorities accusing him and another man of raping two women.
Two Lafayette men have been revealed by police as the infamous duo behind a caper that shook our fair city to its core.
The Lafayette Parish School Board has received a second letter of demand related to last year’s insurance debacle, this time from Key Benefit Administrators claiming it’s owed $93,000 from the school system.
The Louisiana coastline is vanishing faster than mappers can keep track.
A bill that would have overridden local ordinances prohibiting public and private employers from discriminating against lesbian, gay and transgender people has been pulled within less than a week of being filed.
The panel that selects nominees for a controversial New Orleans area flood control board — a board that is suing more than 90 oil, gas and pipeline companies — is set to discuss legislation affecting its independence.
State prison officials cannot keep secret the seller and manufacturer of the two drugs purchased for executions at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
State lawmakers will not appeal a judge's ruling that it was improper to use $3.7 million from a probation and parole officers' retirement fund to balance the state's operating budget.
Conservatives have been losing their minds over this satirical bit on the Colbert Report.
The Lafayette Parish School Board leaves a lot to be desired, but is scrapping the election process in favor of an appointed board the answer?
The House approved legislation Tuesday night to roll back a recently enacted overhaul of the federal flood insurance program, after homeowners in flood-prone areas complained about sharp premium increases.