New Orleans residents may soon see fewer homeless people along the city's streets and under the city's highway underpasses. That's because a local organization devoted to helping the homeless will be using newly-acquired funds to put people in apartments, especially those in the working class who can’t afford the city’s exorbitant rents.
"We fortunately just got a grant from the state that's allowing us to jump start some work to house a lot of people," Martha Kegel, executive director of UNITY of Greater New Orleans, told WWL's Tommy Tucker.
She says that money will be put to use in the coming weeks to provide housing for the unsheltered. According to Kegel, this money will especially help the working poor who have lost their homes because their wages aren't high enough to allow them to afford housing.
"About a quarter of our population is below the poverty line--about a quarter!" Kegel said. "The fair market rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $1,149. Having rents that are unaffordable to a big segment of your population is the largest driver of homelessness, so New Orleans is particularly hard hit."
According to Kegel, New Orleans has seen an uptick in homeless families over the last year. She says the grant money will help her group put those people and others who are unhoused in apartments in the coming weeks.
"We think by the end of the year, the public will see a significant drop in the number of people on the street because we're housing people (and) putting people in apartments," Kegel said. "We may provide the rent assistance for a short period of time, or we may provide it for a long period of time. That really depends on whether the person is able to work or has a severe disability making them unable to work. We might provide that assistance long term if that person has schizophrenia and is unable to work."
