City of New Orleans Continues To Show Respect and Dignity With Plans to Relocate Calliope Homeless Encampment Before Thanksgiving

November 20, 2024 | From City of New Orleans

City of New Orleans Continues To Show Respect and Dignity With Plans to Relocate Calliope Homeless Encampment Before Thanksgiving

The City of New Orleans Office of Homelessness Services and Strategy today provides an update on the Home for Good New Orleans progress and its community benefits, regarding the Governor's Office statement relating to the Calliope encampment.

The partnership between the City of New Orleans, UNITY of New Orleans, and the Traveler's Aid Society has housed 663 people from the streets as of the end of Oct. This represents more than 75 percent of New Orleans' unsheltered population, closing six major encampments. Teams from the partnership work under an initiative command structure to identify people living in encampments, streamline their connection to housing and support services, and permanently close those sites by managing public spaces long-term.

The partnership is continuing to work aggressively to house individuals living outside in the core of downtown New Orleans safely and quickly. The state's encampment sweeps in Oct. disrupted the initiative's progress. Teams spent several weeks relocating known unhoused individuals, providing crisis services, and intaking new individuals who arrived at sites slated for closure, including Calliope. These disruptions have resulted in an extended closure timeline for that encampment, likely in mid-Dec. The remaining inner core encampments are slated to close in early 2025, provided further disruptions do not derail rehousing activities.

Despite these setbacks, the initiative remains committed to reach low or no unsheltered homelessness by the end of 2025. Commencing in Sept. 2023, the partnership's first four months of work led to a 12 percent reduction in unsheltered homelessness. Phase two of the initiative will focus on accelerating housing exits from the City's low barrier shelter, freeing up shelter capacity, so that New Orleans' streets are not the primary place where people experiencing homelessness sleep.

"Home for Good New Orleans' meaningful results show that rehousing is the answer," said Nate Fields, Director of Homelessness Services and Strategy. "The City's Office of Homelessness Services and Strategy is committed to implementing solutions that reduce homelessness and prevent people from having to sleep outside. Rehousing also results in lower crime around encampment areas. The Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office reported substantially lower crime around encampment sites closed by Home for Good New Orleans; unlike moving individuals around, which has the opposite effect."

Research from the New Orleans Health Department also found that 911 emergency calls plummeted after closing encampments and redirecting the homeless to housing.

"Using a direct-to-housing approach not only centers the critical needs of those in encampments, but provides significant community benefits," said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, New Orleans Health Department Director. "When locations are closed in a humane and definitive way, calls for service for medical and serious harmful incidents decrease significantly and permanently. Investing in these real, lasting solutions to street homelessness make our community healthier and safer."

Home for Good New Orleans is a collaborative initiative, supported by city, federal, and philanthropic funding. The City has requested support from the State of Louisiana to complete the encampment decommissioning process via the Home for Good initiative. A request for $10 million is still pending with the Governor's Office. The City has also clearly communicated the effects of State-led sweeps both on those who are experiencing homelessness and the City's progress to decrease unsheltered homelessness.