Governor Jeff Landry's controversial move of cleaning homeless encampments in and around the downtown New Orleans area ahead of the Bayou Classic this weekend has been stayed by a temporary court order that will stop police intervention until Tuesday when a hearing is scheduled.
However, that isn't stopping other debates surrounding the issue of homelessness in the city.
New Orleans City Council At-Large member Helena Moreno has questions that need answering from one local organization
"Tens of millions of dollars and where are our professionals to help us?"
Moreno says during the last encampment cleanup, it was the city, not UNITY of Greater New Orleans that was helping people."
However, Martha Kegel with UNITY told WWL's Tommy Tucker that they have been making great strides in alleviating homelessness in the city.
"We have housed 1,292 people from homelessness in the last thirteen months."
Kegel says the process of reaching out to people on the street, getting proper documentation for them, and keeping up with them through applications and paperwork is no small feat and takes a bit of time.
She hopes that the city and state will continue to engage with organizations like UNITY to help the unhoused.
