MONROE, La. (KNOE) – Habitat for Humanity of North Louisiana broke ground on a new housing project Tuesday, highlighting a growing crisis as local families face unprecedented housing costs.

Kathy Gardner, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of North Louisiana, said the groundbreaking represents more than just a construction project. She described it as a testament to how a community can unite to tackle the critical need for affordable housing.

While financial site Bankrate recommends that individuals spend no more than 28% of their gross monthly income on housing, Gardner said most Louisiana residents cannot meet that standard.

“Let me give you a statistic,” Gardner said. “Seventy percent of the homeowners in the state of Louisiana today spend over 50% of their income on housing. That has typically never been the case before. It used to be 25 to 30%. And now it’s 50%.”

Gardner explained that Habitat for Humanity builds homes specifically tailored to the buyer’s ability to pay, helping to bridge this massive financial gap.

Justin Underwood, chairman of Habitat for Humanity of North Louisiana, stressed that homeownership also requires financial literacy. Underwood works directly with residents to help them navigate their finances.

“I am working every day with people, grinding through their budgets, looking at what affordability means to them in relation to the housing unaffordability we are seeing,” Underwood said. “It gives me even more drive and passion to help Habitat for Humanity.”

Gardner acknowledged that the organization cannot meet every request, noting that local demand far outpaces the available supply of affordable homes.

Applicants must meet specific income requirements based on household size to qualify for the program. Gardner said her heart goes out to those who do not qualify, but vowed that the organization will continue its work.

“As long as there is a limited number of houses area residents can afford to own, Habitat for Humanity will address the need,” Gardner said. “That is our mission.”

In at least two Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC) proceedings, motions supporting large industrial projects the commissioners adopted as their own were written by an Entergy Louisiana executive, records obtained by the Gulf States Newsroom show.

The clearest example is the August 20, 2025 LPSC vote approving Entergy’s settlement to build generation and transmission infrastructure for Meta’s $50 billion data center in Richland Parish. The Gulf States Newsroom obtained the native Word file of the motion, and its metadata — digital breadcrumbs that link a file to its original creator — lists Larry Hand, Entergy’s VP of regulatory and public affairs, as the author.

Hand emailed the motion to Commissioner Foster Campbell, a Democrat representing District 5, two days before the vote, writing: “As discussed, attached is motion to consider for the Meta docket. I am sure you will revise this as you determine appropriate.”

The commission’s executive counsel read the document into the record as Campbell’s motion. It matches Hand’s file almost word for word — including a passage describing Campbell’s own biography.

The same pattern shows up in a March 2025 vote on a separate Entergy transmission project tied to the Hyundai Steel mill in Ascension Parish. Hand sent a motion to the PSC’s deputy general counsel on behalf of Vice Chairman Eric Skrmetta, a Republican representing District 1.

That file’s tracked changes show Hand himself replacing the phrase “maintaining affordable rates” with “ensuring cost-based, affordable rates” — wording that speaks to who ultimately pays for the cost of serving new industrial loads.

Hand did not respond to requests for comment in time for the publication of this story.

Daniel Tait, research and communications director for the Energy and Policy Institute, said the substitution carries weight because “cost-based” ratemaking has a specific, established meaning in the utility industry.

Entergy’s addition of the term, he said, was likely a deliberate move to shield the company from future legal or regulatory challenges. Getting the commission to affirm that principle on the record could matter later, since courts tend to defer heavily to public service commissions’ judgment

“What seems minor — just a two-word change,” Tait said, “could literally determine the outcome of a legal case, determining who would ultimately bear the costs of these types of infrastructure projects that run into billions of dollars.”

The same phrasing appears in the March transcript. The Word file metadata names Hand as the author and ties the tracked edit to his Entergy email account.

In the Hyundai Steel case, the motion — which the PSC’s executive counsel also read the document verbatim into the record — argues the transmission investment is necessary so “Louisiana is able to offer reliable and affordable power that is attractive to companies like Hyundai and others.”

“With this announcement and previously announced Meta investment, Louisiana is winning, and winning big,” the motion, written by Entergy’s Hand, read. “I want to thank Governor Landry for his leadership in positioning Louisiana for this moment. I also want to commend the Commission and my fellow Commissioners for our part in preparing Louisiana.”

In the Meta case, Campbell’s rendition of the motion was more of a free-form interpretation that touched on a variety of topics, including his support for the infrastructure to power the data center. But the exact text of Hand’s draft appears in the PSC’s official minutes.

Both the Meta data center and the Hyundai Steel mill were projects planned and negotiated under nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) — a practice driven by Gov. Jeff Landry, who also signed an NDA with Meta. Entergy’s role in drafting motions for Commissioners comes as the LPSC is set to vote on a related fight over Meta’s transparency at its Aug. 12 meeting in Baton Rouge.

Meta has motioned for immediate review of an administrative law judge’s ruling that ordered the company to turn over records substantiating its projected investment, job creation and electricity demand for its Richland Parish data center.

Entergy currently relies on Meta for these data points without independent verification. The technology company has argued that the way it formulates its numbers is a protected trade secret.

Critics, however, say regulators need independently verified numbers — not Entergy and Meta’s own figures — to determine whether the scale of the buildout and the cost ratepayers could be asked to bear for it actually serves the public interest.

The PSC’s role

In an interview with the Gulf States Newsroom, PSC Commissioner Davante Lewis, a Democrat representing District 3, said the practice of utilities directly authoring motions for commissioners to file “surprises” him less than it troubles him.

Lewis said he routinely fields draft language from parties in a case — including Entergy — but keeps a firmer line than some of his colleagues.

“I don’t like the contextualization of motions,” Lewis said. “Where it bothers me is when we’re contextualizing the motion and giving praises to other people or saying why this is so great. That should come from ourselves. That should not come from a utility to tell me how I should say or talk about my vote.”

Lewis often shares draft language with parties for feedback on factual or procedural accuracy, he said, including dates, docket numbers, and whether a motion accomplishes what a settlement requires.

But he draws a distinction between that kind of coordination and a utility company writing wholesale political framing for a commissioner to read into the record.

“I get a little eerie when we’re glossing or almost writing a press release for utilities with commissioners,” Lewis said. “I do think it’s a little bit problematic.”

Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, the state’s consumer advocate for utilities, said the practice cuts against the basic premise of the PSC’s role.

The commission’s job, she said, is to regulate monopoly utilities and ensure they act in the public interest — not adopt motions the utilities themselves wrote.

It’s unclear how often LPSC motions are ghost-written by utility companies, Burke said, since it depends on whether a native file or its metadata ever surfaces. But she said it raises questions about the origins of other recent Commission actions — including the Commission’s “Lightning Initiative,” a fast-tracked regulatory pathway the PSC adopted in response to Gov. Landry’s executive order of the same name — that have appeared with little stakeholder input and no clear paper trail showing where the language came from.

“Louisiana’s public service commissioners are elected,” Burke said, and meant to represent their constituents while balancing the interests of everyone at the table. If the words coming from their mouths or their pens are actually coming from the utility, it “makes it hard for the voting public to have faith in those state agencies.”

This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.

We are seeing, in very real terms, what happens when Washington makes health care harder to afford.

Across Louisiana, more people are showing up at hospitals without insurance. Families who had coverage just months ago are now going without it because they simply cannot afford it anymore.

The numbers are troubling.

As The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com recently reported, Louisiana’s Affordable Care Act Marketplace enrollment fell from 264,790 in March 2025 to 195,759 in March 2026, a 26 percent decline. Citing an analysis of federal data by KFF, the newspaper reported that Louisiana suffered one of the largest percentage declines in the country.

Those are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. Those are people.

They are small-business owners, independent contractors, gig workers, early retirees, and working families who often find themselves caught in the middle. They may earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but still cannot afford the full cost of private health insurance.

I have heard from hospitals and health care providers across Louisiana, and their concern is real.

My position is pretty straightforward. If there is fraud, prosecute it. If someone is abusing the system, stop it. We have a responsibility to protect taxpayer dollars.

But we should not confuse fighting fraud with taking affordable health coverage away from people who legitimately need it.

Many families simply got priced out.

We warned that this would happen. We warned that allowing these tax credits to expire would force working families off their health insurance and put greater pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms. Those warnings were dismissed, and President Trump and his allies in Congress moved forward anyway.

Now we are living with the consequences. And unfortunately, the people paying the price are not the politicians who made these choices. They are Louisiana families.

When someone loses insurance, the illness does not disappear. The diabetes is still there. The heart condition is still there. The prescription still needs to be filled.

What changes is when that person gets care.

People wait longer to see a doctor. They stretch prescriptions. They put off routine care. And too often, a condition that could have been managed early becomes an emergency.

That is worse for the patient and more expensive for all of us.

The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com reported that Baton Rouge General has seen roughly 3,000 additional uninsured patients. Other health care providers around Louisiana are feeling the pressure as well.

That should concern all of us.

Hospitals cannot make the cost of treating uninsured patients disappear. Somebody ultimately pays, whether it is the hospital, taxpayers, other patients, or the health care system as a whole.

And there may be more trouble ahead. According to KFF data cited in the newspaper’s reporting, ACA insurers are seeking premium increases averaging roughly 15 percent for 2027.

Think about what that means for a family already dealing with higher grocery bills, housing costs, utilities, and child care. Another big increase in health insurance may simply be more than the family budget can take.

This is where our priorities in Washington deserve some serious scrutiny.

We somehow find billions of dollars for wars, major construction projects, reflecting pools, lavish renovations, and remaking parts of the White House. But when the conversation turns to helping working Americans keep their health insurance, suddenly we are told we cannot afford it.

I do not accept that.

America is strong enough to protect our interests abroad and take care of our people here at home. We can do both.

So where do we go from here?

We have work to do, and I intend to keep doing my part.

We must restore the enhanced premium tax credits that helped working families afford coverage. We must protect Medicaid for the people who depend on it and strengthen the hospitals, community health centers, and other providers being asked to carry a heavier burden.

We must keep working to lower prescription drug costs and demand greater transparency and accountability when insurance premiums rise.

And yes, we must aggressively fight fraud, waste, and abuse wherever it exists. I will gladly work across the aisle to do that.

But fighting fraud cannot become an excuse for pricing honest, hardworking people out of health care. We can protect taxpayers without abandoning families who are doing everything right and simply cannot afford another increase.

I will continue working with my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans alike, to find a responsible path forward. Health care cannot become just another partisan talking point while Louisiana families and Louisiana hospitals are dealing with the consequences in real time.

Those of us who serve in Washington also have to be accountable to the people who sent us there.

Ask us how we voted.

Ask what we fought for.

Ask whether the policies we supported made your health care more affordable or less affordable.

And ask what we are doing now to fix it.

Then remember those answers when you vote.

I accept that accountability. Every elected official should.

Because behind every statistic is a person. A father trying to keep his family insured. A small-business owner watching another bill go up. An older worker who is not yet eligible for Medicare. A hospital treating another uninsured patient because that person still needs care, insurance card or not.

We can change this.

We can restore affordable coverage, protect Medicaid, lower prescription drug costs, support our hospitals, and fight real fraud without punishing honest people.

That is the work before us.

I am ready to do my part and ready to push others to do theirs.

Now we need the political will, on both sides of the aisle, to get it done.

Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr.

Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District