Four years after back-to-back hurricanes tore through Southwest Louisiana, Westlake is getting a new affordable housing complex for seniors, a project that reflects how badly the region still needs help recovering.
The development, called Retreat at Westlake, would add 72 units of senior housing near 2900 Westwood Road in Westlake, a small town in Calcasieu Parish directly across the Calcasieu River from Lake Charles. The developer, Westlake III, LLC, is proposing 18 wood-framed buildings plus a community facility, split evenly between one- and two-bedroom apartments. Supportive services would be available to tenants.
All units would be reserved for seniors earning at or below 80% of the area median income. In Calcasieu Parish, that threshold works out to roughly $36,000 to $40,000 per year for a single person, a range that captures most retirees living primarily on Social Security.
The $18.6 million project is being assembled from multiple funding sources. Federal tax credit equity accounts for about $5.4 million, raised through the sale of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits allocated by the Louisiana Housing Corporation. A $3.3 million permanent loan covers another slice. The largest single source, nearly $9.9 million, comes from a category listed as CDBG and other financing. Given the region's history and the Louisiana Housing Corporation's role in distributing federal hurricane recovery dollars, that funding almost certainly includes CDBG-DR disaster recovery money tied to Hurricanes Laura and Delta.
Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm that made landfall in August 2020, caused an estimated $19 billion in damage and wiped out thousands of housing units across Calcasieu Parish. Hurricane Delta followed just six weeks later. The combined destruction hit the region's older housing stock especially hard, leaving many seniors without homes they could afford to rebuild or replace. Rents have climbed, inventory has shrunk, and federal recovery aid has moved slowly through the system. Louisiana received more than $1.2 billion in CDBG-DR funding for Laura and Delta, but housing advocates have long argued that the money has not reached vulnerable residents fast enough.
Seventy-two units cannot resolve a crisis that displaced thousands. But for a small town of roughly 4,500 people, a fully affordable senior complex of this scale is a meaningful addition to a housing market that has struggled to bounce back.
The project is seeking a tax credit allocation through the Louisiana Housing Corporation under the 4% LIHTC program, which is tied to tax-exempt bond financing. Unlike the more competitive 9% credit program, the 4% pathway is available to any qualifying project that meets threshold requirements, making it an increasingly common tool for affordable housing production.
The public notice for the project financing was published in mid-April. If the financing falls into place and construction moves forward, the timeline for when seniors might actually move in has not yet been made public.
