Main Street Neighborhood Study

The study focuses on East Biloxi, the City of Biloxi’s historic core and the area of the city most hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina. In addition, this area of Biloxi is home to most of the city’s African-American and Vietnamese populations. Already struggling with disinvestment, substandard housing, and a general lack of resources and political agency prior to the storm, these neighborhoods now must contend with the increased costs of rebuilding and insuring homes, the financial and urban impacts of elevating buildings, and the mounting pressures of casino-oriented development along their peripheries. The planning study focuses on the recovery of the lower-income neighborhoods struggling to rebuild, the commercial corridors facing disinvestment well before Katrina struck, and the bayous and lowlands that regularly experience flooding. Six distinct zones are addressed:

The Caillavet Street Commercial Corridor
The Main Street Mixed-Use Corridor
The Division Street Mixed-Use Corridor
The Main Street Neighborhood
The Bayou Auguste Park Area
The Oak Street Commercial Corridor

Each area is described in the final planning report, with emphasis on the Main and Division Street corridors. The complete report and its executive summary are both available as .pdfs to download, below.

The Main Street Neighborhood Study was completed by the GCCDS for the Biloxi Housing Authority and the Gulf Coast Housing Resource Network with generous support from the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation.