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Look around, but you probably won’t see them and if you do, you probably won’t realize your looking at them.
Who are they? They are mothers, fathers and their children, the hidden homeless of New Orleans.
In 2011 a diverse group of 100 individuals including leaders of community groups, business men and women, nonprofit organizations, faith based organizations, schools, health care providers and homeless constituents were brought together by Mayor Mitch Landrieu to develop a strategic ten year plan to prevent and end homelessness in New Orleans.
Stacey Horn Koch, Director of the New Orleans Interagency Council for the city of New Orleans says the plan was designed to be in-line with the federal strategic plan “Opening Doors,” set forth by the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, in 2010.
“We were working with data collected from organizations like Unity of Greater New Orleans, as well as people out on the streets working with the homeless. We gathered information to identify their gender, if they are veterans, adults or youth,” Koch said.
Unity of Greater New Orleans is a nonprofit organization designated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that leads a collaborative of over 60 housing and services agencies assisting the homeless population. They collect demographic data on the homeless population and provide it to the city, homeless and health service agencies, and the public.
Unity’s 2011 “Point in Time (PIT)” numbers, a yearly comprehensive estimate of the homeless population released by the organization shows the total homeless population of greater New Orleans was 10,768. Of that population 1938 were youth.
The group came to a consensus on a number of goals they thought would be effective in reducing the homeless population in New Orleans.
According to Unity’s Point in Time data the homeless population is continuing to decline from a total of 11,500 in 2009 to 8,987 in 2012. Unity announced in March that it expects this trend will persist.
Koch said the data Unity of Greater New Orleans provided when the plan was conceived showed 18% of the homeless population was under the age of 18; roughly one in five homeless people were children.
But where are all the homeless children? Where are the mothers and fathers with their kids trying to make it through another chilly rainy night? If you drive down Calliope Street you see homeless men and women huddled under the bridge trying to stay warm.
There are homeless people walking, going about their day in the Central Business District or just sitting around on Decatur Street in the French Quarter. Once again, thankfully there are no children. At least not how one would image homeless children or a homeless family. Perhaps you would imagine kids huddled on the sidewalk sharing a worn blanket.
Koch says homeless youth tend to be difficult to identify. “The whole point of identifying these subpopulations is to target resources to provide effective solutions for that subpopulation. “Youth and families tend to be difficult to get an accurate count on because they are hidden homeless,” Koch said.
“Meaning they couch surf. They’re not on the streets, and they’re not necessarily in shelters. They are moving from their Aunt’s couch to their best friend’s couch, to their grandmother’s couch,” Koch said.
So as for children literally living on the street, there are very few, Koch continued.
Koch says her office is working on building resources for youth, especially teen youth, because there are relatively few agencies available for them.
“We probably could stand to have more shelters, or maybe offer shelter diversion with rental assistance with intensive case management to move a youth, especially a parenting youth into a permanent situation,” Koch said.
The Salvation Army’s Center of Hope on South Claiborne Ave. near Napoleon Ave. provides family oriented sheltering programs.
Brandy Brooks, Social Services Coordinator at Center of Hope works with homeless families. “We have three family programs, The Transitional Housing Program a seven to 24 month program, we also have The Families Programs, and Rapid Rehousing for Families. A short term rental assistance program to transition the families from emergency shelter to stable housing,” Brooks said.
The Salvation Army’s Families Program is a live in three-month case management program. It offers shelter services for single parent mothers or single parent fathers with children seeking permanent housing.
Rochelle and her 2-year-old son Elijah are just one of the families benefiting from the Salvation Army’s Transitional Housing Program developed to assist single mothers.
“It’s been a real relief knowing I can go to work and have a place to come back to and laydown, with no stress and no problems. We’ve been doing real good,” Rochelle said.
The programs are designed to assist parents with employment, and help them enter job skills training programs so that they can gain employment. Eventually they are able to transition out into permanent housing.
“I actually have three part time jobs. Which kind of equal out to one full time job, yeah it’s working out well,” Rochelle said. Her apartment at the Salvation Army Command center is small but adequate.
“If you need to work or look for a job and don’t have childcare, assistance is available and they point you in the right direction,” Rochelle said.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are available in the on-site cafeteria for program participants at no charge. A microwave is provided in each apartment so families can prepare their meals.
Don Weaver 