(The Center Square) – New Orleans is looking to pass a resolution to end homelessness without criminalization as the city’s total number of unhoused rises for the second year.
This resolution comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Grants Pass vs Johnson, allowing cities to criminalize homeless people sleeping in public, according to agenda documents from the Aug. 8, 2024, city council meeting.
The resolution states that the New Orleans City Council will continue efforts to end homelessness, but not through criminalization that would punish homeless people when caught sleeping in public. Instead, the council said it would continue to improve housing stability while preserving dignity and respect and urging other local, regional, and state leaders and the New Orleans federal delegation to find another way to solve homelessness that would waste public funding.
“These agencies and their community partners have my sincere gratitude for ensuring that every resident of New Orleans is treated with dignity and respect,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “Thank you for doing this critical work every single day,” posted the city on Instagram.
The council proposed a charter amendment to dedicate an estimated $15 million to $20 million annually to housing initiatives through the Housing Trust Fund.
The document states that costs to clean encampments total $6,200 per individual, or $3 million, in New Orleans.
Homelessness in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish has continued to rise for the second year in a row due to the pandemic, higher rent prices, and the ending of most housing resources for those experiencing homelessness.
The city’s homeless population grew 20% in two years, totaling 1,454 people in 2024 both living outside and in shelters, a 5% increase from the previous year, according to the report on the 2024 Point in Time survey.
While there is an increase in overall homelessness, there are fewer people living on the street. On Jan. 22, 2024, 484 people lived on the street, compared to 553 in 2023. The report states the decline is due to new resources after the launch of the Rapid Re-Housing Program and UNITY of Greater New Orleans, comprised of 63 organizations for those living on the street or in dangerous conditions. Encampments comprise 27% of the 484 people living on the street, and 73% are reported sleeping alone, in pairs, or in small groups.
The Director of Community Engagement for UNITY Warehouse, Joseph Heeren-Mueller, said in an email to The Center Square that it is encouraging to see the city taking a proactive stance in light of other municipalities criminalizing unsheltered homelessness.
“UNITY and our partners remain committed to reducing street homelessness through housing while also ensuring paths to housing for shelter residents. In many cases, people who have been homeless just need a chance at success in housing, which we provide by wrapping supportive services around recently-housed families and individuals to ensure that they remain stably housed.”
Mueller continued, “Our community also needs more mechanisms to make housing affordable to those who are unhoused as well as the many New Orleanians for whom housing instability has grown, including Housing Trust Fund Charter Amendment, and reducing discrimination that limits choice in where to live.”
The report states that family homelessness has reached a 69% increase over the last two years. There was a reported 78% increase over the last six years of those 65 and over experiencing homelessness, with a total of 114 people aged 65 and older living in shelters or on the street.
Although the city has seen an increase over the last two years, homelessness is down 27% over the past decade and 87% since post-Katrina, according to the report.