The Low Barrier Shelter on Perdido Street is a loose form shelter operated by UNITY of Greater New Orleans.
Thursday morning, Mayor LaToya Cantrell, Councilman Jay Banks, and Unity’s Executive Director Martha Kegel gathered for the ground breaking of a new $5.27-million-dollar expansion.
Cantrell was an early supporter of a loose format shelter, where people were able to stay with the own property, whether they were sober or not.
Now she was presiding over the ground breaking: “Because the needs even then were the focus of expanding our bed capacity. Now here we are, with over five million dollars being put into this expansion, it will accommodate and grow us over 200%.”
Councilman Banks, also an early proponent of Cantrell’s effort to create a shelter that brought a ‘housing first’ program to people in need confirmed the shelters importance to the homeless community in New Orleans: “We have to be intentional on making sure that necessary services are provided. Homelessness is not a crime, it is typically not the individual’s fault, it is a circumstance that most people do not want to encounter.”
The shelter expansion, on the grounds of the former Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, will add over 200 beds and expand to the third floor of the facility.