Homeless Tent Project

The homeless situation in Duncan Plaza next to City Hall is at crisis stage. The space pictured here will accommodate an emergency shelter in a climate-controlled tent for 126 men. Don Cooper, president of New Orleans Mission which will administer the project, is talking on the cell phone to the tent company to expedite the process.

We are expecting even more homelessness in the short term in our city. Jim Kelley, president of Catholic Charities, told me yesterday that the next five years are likely to see even more homeless persons in New Orleans with an increasing percentage of them being women and children.

The homeless population is composed of a variety of groups.

1. The chronically homeless compose about 25 percent of our homeless population, according to Unity for the Homeless.

2. A large number of the homeless are those dealing with addiction problems and/or mental illness.

3. The situational homeless are those people, often families, who are the "working poor." They live from one paycheck to another. If that paycheck is disrupted because of transportation failure, children being sick, or problems with the employer, they have no safety net.

4. The new homeless in New Orleans are often those who had housing previous to the storm but who lost their homes and their support network of family and friends. They cannot afford the new rents.

We are working today and all this week to address not only the immediate need before the cold weather settles in but also the longterm need in our city.

People who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord cannot sit this one out. If our heart reflects the heart of our Lord, then we will not be idle when people are hurting. Even though they are strangers to us, we will try to "take them in," as Jesus taught us (Matthew 25).